01/01/2021    Adam M Budny, DPM

Have you received your COVID-19 vaccination yet?

I was one of the small percentage of respondents
who indicated I would not get the vaccine. But
as with all surveys - there is little room for
interpretation or explanation regarding why a
response was affirmative or not.

In this particular circumstance - I will not get
the vaccine because I had COVID. I now have
natural immunity for at least a period of time
based on my antibodies. The duration of this
immunity may be up for debate but there is
literature that suggests this may be for several
months. "The presence of anti-spike or anti-
nucleocapsid IgG antibodies was associated with a
substantially reduced risk of SARS-CoV-2
reinfection in the ensuing 6 months." This was a
study of 12,541 healthcare workers. NEJM,
Antibody Status and Incidence of SARS-CoV-2
Infection in Health Care Workers.
Sheila F. Lumley, B.M., B.Ch., Denise O’Donnell,
B.Sc., Nicole E. Stoesser, M.B., B.S., D.Phil.,
et al. December 23, 2020. DOI:
10.1056/NEJMoa2034545

From my personal perspective, if I have had the
virus and developed natural immunity, I do not
see that a vaccine benefits me. In addition,
given the statistics regarding at risk
demographics and COVID-19, there a very large
number of individuals over the age of 85 who
carry an exponentially higher risk of mortality;
and if I was to take a vaccine, I could
potentially be removing a dose of a life saving
medicine from circulation and in fact causing a
death. See chart screenshot from CDC,
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-
data/investigations-discovery/hospitalization-
death-by-age.html. As such, from an ethical and
rational standpoint, there is no reason for me to
receive it.

Adam M Budny, DPM, Altoona, PA

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