A Letter to the Unvaccinated
/by Rev. Eric Folkerth
I'm not sure why, but I'm going to take one more run at speaking directly to unvaccinated folks here in Texas.
If you are vaccine eligible --not excluded from eligibility due to a medical condition-- you are not only harming yourself, but you are harming your neighbors here in the State of Texas.
Finally, for my Christian brothers and sisters: You are violating God's great commandment to love both yourself and your neighbor.
There are three charts attached that show this quite plainly. These come from Texas Tribune. (Links HERE and HERE.)
Let me boil this down in the most factual way possible. I'm going to "all caps" the main points, then explain:
1. CLOSE TO 90% OF TEXAN COVID DEATHS WERE/ARE UNVACCINATED.
This is not data from some eastern, liberal think-tank. This is data from your own Republican-led state government. Their own scientists have crunched the numbers and discovered this.
2. HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS ARE AT AN ALL TIME HIGH.
When taken with the first point, it means this: More than any other time in this pandemic, you are MORE at risk at being hospitalized with COVID.
You remember all those weeks and months when the rest of us, your friends and family, shrieked at you to get vaxxed? Well, RIGHT NOW...today...the situation is far worse than it was when we told you that.
You're probably not hearing this "hair on fire" message now because, if we are being honest, most of us are weary of talking to you. Still others have decided "Well, I'm not going to die, so just let them die if they want..."
Most are just sick of trying to speak to you about this --saying the same things over and over-- and having nothing change.
I know that if I am honest, I am too. But I'm taking one more run at it today.
Yes, among those who are vaccinated, the current variant seems much milder, overall. But for you who are unvaccinated, the data shows that you are at far, far greater risk than you ever have been...right now...today.
3. YOUR DECISION TO REMAIN UNVAXXED COULD KILL YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS WHO DON'T EVEN HAVE COVID.
How can this be? Isn't "my decision" just "my decision?"
It's because of the third chart, the one that shows the sharp *drop* in available hospital rooms.
You see, all those unvaccinated COVID patients like you are literally taking beds and resources away from other people.
People with heart attacks, strokes, bleeding from car accidents...suffering any number of urgent traumas...are less likely to get good and quality care because people like you are taking up hospital beds.
Have you even thought about this?
Maybe you have...I don't know...maybe you just don't care how your actions affect others. Maybe you're chronically depressed and you have some almost suicidal-fatalism about your situation.
I'm not at all being sarcastic with this last comment. At this point, I have to assume that some of you are simply fatalistic about your own life...maybe you've subconsciously decided your life no longer matters. Or maybe you believe nobody else cares about you.
Well, as I've said before, and for many months now: You matter to God, and you matter to a great many other people. Many of your family and friends will be devastated should you die.
And for those who are losing elderly relatives...or are among those with hospitalized children (a growing group right now)...because our vaccination rate never made it to herd immunity...they will no doubt be bitter and feel a sense of justifiable anger toward you for years to come.
Just this week, I've heard from two more friends whose VACCINATED elderly relatives have died from COVID (Remember: 10% of vaxxed folks still die...)
Was/Is it really your intention to kill a bunch of Grandmas and children?
Of course, it wasn't. I know the answer to that.
But for whatever reason you're still not looking at the whole picture and seeing how your actions are affecting all of the rest of us. You are failing to see how you and us are connected...and how your actions are harmful, not just to yourself but others.
Jesus' Great Commandment is to love God, self, and neighbor with all your "heart, soul, mind and strength."
If you are Christian, I hope you will pray over how your actions are violating two out of three parts of this primary commandment (love of self and neighbor...)
I understand that admitting just how wrong you have been is incredibly difficult. Nobody likes doing that, and especially as we look back at the past two years, it would be incredibly hard to admit "I have made a mistake."
You have a friend, though, in the stories of Jesus. The "Prodigal Son" of Jesus' famous parable was in much the same situation as you are now.
He had not only squandered his inheritance, but in doing so he had basically chosen to believe his family was "dead to him." (And he to them...)
However, even with all the mistakes he has made, Jesus says that "he came to himself." Something about his situation broke through and he realized his mistakes. He goes back to his Father, who welcomes him with open arms.
Maybe it's this last part that gets you. Maybe you're afraid that nobody around you will accept you with open arms if you admit your mistake and finally go to get vaccinated.
I can't promise you how they will react. There's lots of anger out there. Nobody can control the feelings of others.
Here's a new thought: Maybe you can just get vaxxed and not tell anybody. You can save face with others but save lives --your own and others-- with your actions.
Actually, I'd just be happy with that.
What I CAN promise is that God is like that parent in the story too...and God will accept you back with open arms, even if everyone around you is still an angry older brother to you.
Your life is worth it.
You matter to God.
And your actions matter to the health of all of the rest of us.
For God's sake, and ours, please "come to yourself" and get vaccinated.
Grace and Peace,
Eric Folkerth
