Dispatches From the Fortress – Day 503

Ah, Day 503.  Welcome Back, My Friends, to the Show That Never Ends. I continue to be very happy that they didn't have an in-person Comic-Con International in San Diego this past weekend, thereby sparing me the stress of deciding (probably) not to attend. Yes, I'm fully-vaccinated…or at least I am until Real Doctors, including mine, recommend a booster shot of Moderna. I still wouldn't have wanted to attend a convention that was all about COVID and where to wear a mask and who's vaccinated and who's not. Would we have spoken of anything else…say, about comic books?

Also, I've grown so accustomed to being home, dining in and seeing only selected, wisely-screened people that I'm not sure my system could have handled the shock of suddenly being amidst thousands in a place other than my house. I'll have to ease back to that when the time comes.

Sean Hannity — whose show you may be stunned to hear I never watch — shocked a few people last week by coming out, sort of, for vaccination. He must have gotten some horrified feedback from the same folks who think Hillary's still running that pizza parlor for pedophiles because he came back a few days later and said, "I'm not urging people to get the COVID-19 vaccine." But here is what he did say which sounds like what he's denying he said…

Please take COVID seriously, I can't say it enough. Enough people have died, we don't need more deaths. Research like crazy, talk to your doctor, your doctors, medical professionals you trust based on your unique medical history, your current medical condition and you and your doctor make a very important decision for your own safety. Take it seriously.

That makes a lot of sense except for the "research like crazy" part. Talking to medical professionals you trust is a great idea and if everyone had done that, we might not now be hunkering down due to a new wave of coronavirus and worrying about the next few. If you take "research like crazy" to mean looking health matters up on the Internet, I think you are crazy. Because if you wanna believe COVID can be kept at bay by eating an excessive number of Snickers bars and you google enough, you can probably find supporting evidence for what you wanna believe.

Consulting a Real Doctor should be all you have to do…and if you don't trust your Real Doctor enough that it is, you have the wrong Real Doctor…or maybe the wrong idea of what they're for. I decided to get the vaccine the instant it was recommended to me by my primary care physician. And if I'd had any doubts he was right, they were dispelled by e-mails and personal advice from my gastroenterologist, my dentist, my orthopedist, my urologist…I've typed this list before here…who all weighed in before I was even able to get the first jab.

Sure. If I wanted to, I could find contrary advice from unknown, possibly anonymous people on the World Wide Web but why would I do that?  Only if I wanted to believe that expertise is worthless and that my hunches are just as good as anything.  I'm waiting for the political candidate — and we seem to be getting close to this — who will tell his supporters, "…and I promise you I will never listen to anyone on any topic who claims to know more than I do!"