Recently, physicians at Columbus Community Hospital addressed the small population in the community who have yet to utilize one of the various vaccination options to protect against COVID-19. While a vast majority in the health care community have adopted the standard recognizing little to no risk associated with the vaccine, physicians recognized the importance of a closer examination of the FDA’s emergency use authorization and other measures used to mobilize scientific advances in medicine that helped bring the vaccination to the forefront in one of the most notable medical accomplishments in modern history.

July 30, 2021

A Note to Our Fellow Caregivers COVID-19 Vaccination Concerns

We are once again seeing rising numbers of COVID patients in our community, our state, and our nation.  We have a preventive measure available that has proven its ability to decrease the incidence of COVID-19. And, while it does not prevent the disease completely, it does reduce the severity of COVID-19, as seen in the current hospitalization numbers, where 97% of the hospitalizations nationwide now are in non-vaccinated individuals.  There is much misinformation about the vaccines in social media, and we, as your physicians and nurse practitioners, would like to address this topic.  Here are some of the myths we would like to counter.

The vaccine could cause me to be infertile, or could harm my baby

ACOG (American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology) recommends that pregnant individuals have access to COVID-19 vaccines and that the vaccines also be offered to lactating individuals. Claims linking COVID-19 vaccines to infertility are unfounded and have no scientific evidence supporting them. ACOG recommends vaccination for all eligible people who may consider future pregnancy. In addition, vaccine generated antibodies have been found in umbilical cord blood and breast milk after maternal vaccination, and can offer protection to the baby.

The vaccine could cause me to be infertile, or could harm my baby

ACOG (American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology) recommends that pregnant individuals have access to COVID-19 vaccines and that the vaccines also be offered to lactating individuals. Claims linking COVID-19 vaccines to infertility are unfounded and have no scientific evidence supporting them. ACOG recommends vaccination for all eligible people who may consider future pregnancy. In addition, vaccine generated antibodies have been found in umbilical cord blood and breast milk after maternal vaccination, and can offer protection to the baby.

I know of people who got the vaccine and still got sick.

nitial studies showed a 5% failure rate with even the best vaccine.  In addition, with the delta variant now becoming the predominant strain, there is a higher failure rate, but the vaccines have generally been shown to reduce the severity of the illness should one contract the virus.

We have seen far too many of our patients, friends, and relatives contract this illness, and some of them have even died.  We believe the mRNA vaccines are both safe and effective, and are the only way to get this illness under control.  We encourage all of you to consider taking either the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

There are too many side effects
All vaccines have side effects, and these are no different. Many of those who are opposed to the vaccine have cited the huge spike in VAERS reports- these are the reports of side effects.  This vaccine has been scrutinized and publicized more than any vaccine in history, and great effort has been made to report all side effects, and in addition, the patient self-reporting has been made possible with the V-SAFE reporting program, which has not been used on a broad scale like this.
The vaccine is experimental

 Initial studies showed a 5% failure rate with even the best vaccine.  In addition, with the delta variant now becoming the predominant strain, there is a higher failure rate, but the vaccines have generally been shown to reduce the severity of the illness should one contract the virus.

We have seen far too many of our patients, friends, and relatives contract this illness, and some of them have even died.  We believe the mRNA vaccines are both safe and effective, and are the only way to get this illness under control.  We encourage all of you to consider taking either the Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

We understand that this has been a controversial issue for many.  We are concerned about your health as we continue to face this virus in our community, the clinics and the hospital.  Please feel free to stop us in the hall if you would like to discuss this further.

  • Dr. Greg Bohuslav
  • Dr. Rob Katz
  • Dr. Bart Klaus
  • Dr. Christian Freeman
  • Dr. Saima Ghazal
  • Dr. Troy Millican
  • Dr. Tom Mueller
  • Dr. David Neisner
  • Dr. David Wilkinson
  • Jessica Radley, FNP-BC
  • Kelly Randermann, MSN-FNP
  • Yvonne Wagner, ANP/GNP
  • Dr. Donna Campbell