Letter: This pandemic is going on far too long because appropriate measures were not taken from the start

The Editor,

I never thought I would need to support a vaccine passport. It is like a skydiver refusing a parachute. 

A lack of knowledge is totally fair to expect. We are all experts in different areas. 

I go to a mechanic for advice when my vehicle is acting up. I go to a lawyer to do estate planning. I see my doctor for health related items.

I try to reconcile how we got to where we are today. 

The information yo-yo the government chose to play has truly messed things up for our society. In some cases I feel they were dishonest with us. It was obvious that this virus was airborne very early on. 

In medicine we use something called a precautionary principle, where we should suspect it is airborne until proven otherwise. But that type of PPE was hard to come by and it’s also very expensive.

It creates a lot of distrust when the government bases policy on supply rather than supply on policy. 

This government has managed to off-put the professionals and the lay person.

A good education on the immune system, and how science will evolve during a pandemic would have gone a long way had it been done when people were ready to listen. 

It feels like there was no strategy session on how to approach this from a public relations perspective. It seemed very reactionary and knee-jerk frankly. 

And it’s not surprising that we have lost buy-in from people.

But what I do find very upsetting is that people are truly desperately ill. People are dying that shouldn’t die. And this pandemic is going on far too long because appropriate measures were not taken from the start. The fact that this country was left open to travel for months is the biggest mistake in our history.

So to answer the question, do I support the vaccine passport? 

I would prefer to support a total lockdown until this thing is gone. It’s what we should have done in the beginning. The arbitrary rules that this government has come up with are mine boggling. Ask any teacher or parent, schools are the biggest spreader of any bug going around but the government doesn’t test kids and makes outlandish statements like they can’t get sick.

I believe that the vaccine passport is a way of coercing people to get the vaccine. It seems to be working in some respects, so I guess I reluctantly support them. 

But I am saddened on so many levels that this is what it has come to.

I was going to end it there, but I will take a stab at providing a bit of education to address the very common statements I hear in the community. People with the vaccine are still getting sick. Please be assured the vaccine is working the way it should.

When you are exposed to a virus and particles enter your nose or mouth or eyes, you don’t show symptoms for several days. The virus needs time to replicate in your system to cause a cough and runny nose. Replication is exponential. One turns into two, two to four, four to eight, eight to sixteen. It is easy to see that eventually, your body becomes overwhelmed by sheer numbers and that is when you start to experience symptoms of the illness.

Meanwhile, your immune system has detected an invader and is scrambling efforts to fight and kill it. Your glands that get swollen under your jaw are little manufacturing plants. The virus is captured and carried there by your lymph system. It is deconstructed and a weakness is found. Then antibodies are built like an infantry of specially made robots with the kryptonite to your superillness. They are mass produced and sent through your blood to find the pathogens that have been busy replicating and kill them.

A vaccine is a blueprint for your manufacturers in your glands. It takes about three days or more to deconstruct a new pathogen and come up with a tool to kill it. This saves the time needed to figure out what kind of antibody will work and the body can go straight to production stage.

With a blueprint on file, the body recognizes the virus as soon as it is introduced, giving it a headstart, an edge, home ice advantage, 10 stroke handicap, a 6 point spread in the game. Yes you will still have viral particles in your body, you may even show symptoms, but since there’s a three day head start, the body is able to stop the virus in its tracks before it replicates so much, that your organs are overcome and systems begin to shut down.

So yes, you will still test positive. But chances are you won’t be overrun with viral numbers to the point of no return like those who have not had their vaccine.

Some people have immune systems on steroids. Not literally, well maybe… but I digress. 

Every single one of us is unique. Just like your mamma always said, but in a physiological way too. This disease is not particular for who it will take. It is a crapshoot. And it is not one you should be playing with. The reason you keep hearing about our overwhelmed medical system is because it doesn’t have the capacity for gamblers. The house always wins — remember that.

Christina Gower, Port Coquitlam

Editor’s note: Gower was the NDP federal candidate in Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam in 2019.