Yesterday, our Dr. Suzanne walked outside into the chilly 5:00 a.m. morning to start her drive to Shiprock Emergency Room on the Navajo Nation. She immediately appreciated what she saw. “It’s really dark and there’s lots of stars. I saw a shooting star right when I came out!” 

Of course Suzanne knows it’s not an actual star that’s shooting. She went to science class in grade school. It’s just a small meteor rock that’s burning up in the earth’s atmosphere. Simple, factual, and awesome. 

As a doctor, Suzanne believes in the pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world following a systematic methodology based on EVIDENCE, also known as science. Her grade school teacher was sharing the best information that was known to humankind. If we’re realistic, we would be actually wishing on a piece of dust dying from space.   

On her drive to work to take care of Covid patients and other emergencies, Dr. Suzanne’s thoughts go to…

“If you have not yet been vaccinated against COVID and have the opportunity to do so, you should, even if you are young and healthy, even if you already had COVID.  Why?  Here are some reasons to think about:

1. Because you care about other people.  In our small town in Ecuador, someone gave COVID to _____ and ____, and they died. Was it you? You may be young and healthy but many people in your community are not.  Do you want to be responsible for their death?  Will you visit you grandmother you haven’t seen in a year and give her COVID and cause her death? Do you care about other people? Get vaccinated.

2. Did you already have COVID and think your natural immunity will protect you?  It will, for a time, an unknown and likely short time. Getting vaccinated provides longer lasting and more consistent immunity.  Getting just one shot after infection boost your immunity. 

3. Have you heard of the delta variant? It is more dangerous than the original COVID virus. It spreads more quickly and is affecting younger people more. On average someone with COVID would spread the virus to 2 other people.  With Delta, a person infects 5 people.  THE mRNA vaccines have been shown to give very good protection against Delta. The more people staying unvaccinated, the more variants we will see in the future and they could be even more dangerous.

4. The side effects of the vaccine are a small risk compared to COVID. There have been no long term side effects with the vaccine, and long term COVID is real.  You may experience a day or two of illness after the vaccine, but symptoms are much less than the disease. The vaccines do not contain microchips. They are safe in pregnancy.   

5. Again, do you care about other people? I personally risk my life every single day while I am at work taking care of COVID patients.  I am not a hero.  I just care about other people.  I know you do too.  You can take a day of being sick and the small risk of adverse reactions from the vaccine to save someone else’s life.  Do it for your grandma, do it for your community, do it so I don’t have to tell another strangers family that their loved one is gone.”

Do you know that Emergency Rooms are overwhelmed? More than they have ever been over the past 18 months. Other emergencies are not being seen because there’s no room. Surgeries postponed because hospitals need more beds for ICU Covid patients. Healthcare providers drained and on the brink.

If there’s a way for us to help, and IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS REGARDING THE VACCINES, please ask us. Any question, here on Instagram or email us at arippleinternational@gmail.com. Just like science, we will tell you the truth. Sometimes science agrees with people’s personal views, sometimes it doesn’t. Fortunately, science doesn’t care what our beliefs are.

No matter where you live, if you question the government, the news, pharmaceutical companies, social media…thank you. We all should. Let’s keep doing that!   

But there’s an overwhelming wave of dangerous unscientific misinformation that’s actually killing people. Are you? 

As one of Suzanne’s colleagues said, 

“Politicians want your vote. 

Media wants your ad clicks.

Healthcare workers want you to live. 

Choose to listen to whomever you want.”

(attached are a couple of images regarding this subject. Not attached are the hundreds of painful cries of help from friends and colleagues. Most people reading this live in the USA, where there’s plenty of vaccines available, but not enough takers. This was written in Ecuador, a country with many people that want the vaccine, but there’s not enough. Sad but true. Again, please ask if you have any questions)