TAKING A SHOT: SIDEBAR

Written By Valerie Miller

Dr. Joe Hardy has the chance to look at the COVID-19 pandemic from a couple different perspectives. He is a state lawmaker, serving as a state senator from Boulder City. Hardy also sees the coronavirus, up close, as a physician.

Recently, Hardy was one of six Nevada lawmakers to vote “no” on a measure that would have extended a COVID-vaccine mandate for all Nevada college students. The Nevada legislator says his “no” vote was based on flaws that challenged the proposed mandate itself.

“(The Board of Regents) said, ‘We want you, the Legislative commission, to approve the ongoing state of emergency that requires a student to prove they are immune,’” Hardy recounts of the late December meeting. “You can’t do that. I can’t do that. The doctor can’t do that. (Dr. Anthony) Fauci can’t do that. The FDA can’t do that. The CDC can’t do that. The United States government can’t do that. The president can’t do that! Nobody can prove that they are immune!”

With the arrival of Omicron in the U.S. and in Nevada, everyone has had to rethink what “immunity” means. Some people who have already been vaccinated are getting “breakthrough infections” from Omicron. Fortunately, Hardy points out that Omicron is proving to be less deadly, albeit more contagious, than the original COVID-19 and the Delta variant.

Hardy doesn’t believe that the United States will ever reach the much-discussed “herd immunity,” either. “This is not going to be like the measles,” he predicts. “We are going to have to live with this.”

The COVID vaccines remain the best way to stay safe, and ward off serious illness or death from the virus, Hardy says. In addition, he cautions that those who don’t get vaccinated against COVID could unknowingly “get Grandma sick or kill Grandma or Grandpa.” Many COVID-positive people are asymptomatic and thus do not know that they are carriers of the potentially-deadly virus.

But the doctor does understand why some parents may be reluctant to get their children vaccinated against COVID, given the newness of the mRNA vaccines. “Physicians are taught to ‘Do no harm.’ So, if a parent believes that they are giving a vaccine that could cause harm, they may feel the same way about their children,” Hardy explains.

Increasing divisiveness is also among the problems with mandating COVID vaccines, the doctor opines.

“One of the challenges, I think we have, is when we say there’s a mandate, we are basically putting people in two camps. And, you either have to be in one or the other. That isn’t what life is. Life is not one or the other,” Hardy says. “There are legitimate, normal, happy, intelligent people who have misgivings about getting a vaccine, including this (COVID) vaccine.”

There is also the issue of personal freedom. Hardy points to the long-held assertion by some: “My body, my choice.”

“How many times have we heard, ‘My body, my choice,’ when it comes to taking something from (someone’s) body. Now, you have a group that says, ‘My body, my choice’ and ‘You don’t have the right to do anything to my body.’”

Inconsistent medical advice from governmental and national public health officials -- during the pandemic -- has only worsened the public’s skepticism about COVID vaccines, Hardy also points out.

And while the physician appreciates that people have their reasons for remaining unvaccinated, he encourages them to consider getting the COVID shot.

“Now from a doctor’s standpoint, I can tell you that the risks of getting the disease are worse than the vaccine’s risks,” Hardy says. “You make a decision: Do I want to risk getting the disease, or do I want to risk have the side effect from the vaccine?”

For Hardy himself, he knew what his decision would be.

“I didn’t want to die right now, so I got the vaccine.”