Recently, I thought it was time for some mathematics. My brilliant cousin and nuclear physicist, Erich Vogt, who unfortunately passed away a few years ago, once said that everything in the world can be explained by numbers/mathematics.  I am much too stupid to understand that, but I think it might be true. Apparently, that’s what you learned in his first year Physics class at the University of British Columbia. I think he learned that from Albert Einstein under whom he studied post graduate physics at Princeton University.

I thought of that recently when I considered some simple numbers. According to a recent study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States (‘CDC’) in the United States, probably the world authority on Covid-19 and many other infectious diseases: Unvaccinated people are 11 times more likely to die from Covid-19 than vaccinated people. Compared to unvaccinated people, vaccinated people are nearly 5 times less likely to get infected, and 10 times less likely to get so sick from Covid-19 that they must be hospitalized.

The numbers are clear: Vaccines are effective protection against Covid-19. And very few people get sick from the vaccine. As the director of the CDC, Dr. Rochelle Walensky said, “As we have shown, in study after study, vaccination works.”

Is there really anyone needs to know anymore about why it is smart to get vaccinated? Aren’t numbers simple? Let’s keep it simple. Maybe they don’t tell us everything, like my cousin thought, but they sure do tell us a lot.