Why I, a TCM physician, will not be getting the COVID-19 vaccination

 As a healthcare worker, I have been given priority access to the COVID-19 vaccine. The simple reason I won't be getting the vaccine is because I am of child-bearing age, and I have access to Chinese medicine knowledge. I am not in the high death risk group, nor am I on the frontlines, and I also have the extra ammunition of TCM. Those in the mainstream will probably think I only believe in fake news or hocus pocus spreading around on the internet and WhatsApp groups since I am a TCM physician (many think that TCM is placebo), but it's also because what I know about TCM is not what the mainstream knows about TCM. It's probably hard to believe, but it's precisely because I don't believe in fake news, so I am also very cautious when dealing with western medicine. There are still many questions I have unanswered, and the high concentrations and potency of western medicine leave less room for error as compared to other forms of alternative medicine. I shall be addressing some of these questions I have in this post. 

First, apparently those who have gotten COVID-19 before are not immune to it. So they are actually supposed to take the vaccine as well. It is stated in the cdc website that 'immunity' seems to only last for 90 days. 

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/faq.html

I actually don't know whether to trust this or not, because logically it doesn't really make sense. If I have gotten COVID-19 before, doesn't it mean my body should also have learnt how to fight against it? And the real virus is supposed to be stronger than the vaccine, so shouldn't I be immune if the vaccine is able to make me immune? 

According to the WHO, the scientists have no idea. Which to me is quite weird because COVID is so widespread so I don't understand why it's so difficult to test this.

https://www.who.int/news-room/commentaries/detail/immunity-passports-in-the-context-of-covid-19#:~:text=There%20is%20currently%20no%20evidence,multi-step%20process.

Some people get tested for antibodies, but the rate of getting a false positive is too high to give significance. Meaning if you got a positive reading, which by right indicates that you were previously infected (and should be immune to some extent), you may not actually have been infected because the reading is basically a false reading. 

Below is a news article (which I trust less than scientific journals because journalists don't have the same knowledge scope as scientists), but I think explains quite well why we should take the vaccine rather than risk getting the infection, and why the vaccine provides better immunity than the actual infection itself. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/12/05/health/covid-natural-immunity.amp.html

But there is a point that I find issue with: 

“Once you start vaccinating millions, you might find very, very rare events,” Dr. Hanage said. “But we have to know that they are very, very rare and much more rare than the adverse events associated with natural infection.”

What do you mean by adverse events? And what do you mean by rare? Some people get bell's palsy. Is this considered an adverse event? Is the rate really that low to be considered rare? Even sg's infectious disease Dr who took the vaccine got Bell's palsy as a side effect. Some people don't recover so well from Bell's palsy even with steroids and antivirals. It's not that I don't believe that the benefits outweigh the risks at this point in time, but sometimes I just feel tired from the Western medicine community underplaying or even hiding the statistics. I know enough people who rely on steroids, hypertensive medication, diabetic medication etc, thinking that the side effects are minimal, but end up dying from some other complication that is obviously related but not recorded as being related because it's not proven by large statistics. On the other hand, I also know those who refuse to take such medication and instead changed their lifestyles to a healthier one, and managed to reverse their disease (which means they don't even need to rely on such medication). 

I think the biggest issue is also the point on herd immunity which is being vastly spread in the media. But according to the news article below (read it till the end), being vaccinated only protects ourselves, we can still be a carrier of the virus and pass it to those who cannot get vaccinated. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/12/08/health/covid-vaccine-mask.amp.html

So if I'm not at high risk, and I can't prevent my loved ones from becoming infected, and I am of child-bearing age, plus I can use TCM, then why would I want to get vaccinated? 

It's really a personal choice though. If you don't have as many reasons as I do, and you are just afraid of the side effects and from the fear mongering news being spread like wildfire online, then I suggest that you do more research and cross - referencing to see which sources are credible and which are not, and which of the videos and articles are fake. 

I personally also do not think that people who get COVID should flock to see TCM, because our TCM industry isn't as well established as China's and we aren't as well protected. TCM works, but the infrastructure is still not ready yet, and the Western medicine community doesn't want to work properly with the TCM industry either. So that's that for now. 

TTFN!