For lack of a vaccine …

Closeup of medicine vial or flu, measles vaccine bottle with syringe and needle for immunization on vintage medical background, medicine and drug concept

For lack of a vaccine life as we know it has ground to a halt.

For lack of a vaccine Americans are being sickened in the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions.

For lack of a vaccine Americans are dying in the thousands, soon to be tens of thousands, ultimately hundreds of thousands and hopefully not millions.

Look what we’ve suffered for lack of ONE vaccine.

For lack of a vaccine the American economy is in free fall.

For lack of a vaccine the stock market has shed nearly a third of its value.

For lack of a vaccine we are entering another Great Recession and possibly a Great Depression.

For lack of a vaccine millions have already lost their jobs and millions more, possibly tens of millions more will do so.

For lack of a vaccine we have had to cancel every high school graduation, every college graduation and thousands of weddings.

For lack of a vaccine we must stay in our homes, leaving only to get more food. We must keep our distance from even those we love the most.

For lack of a vaccine we take our lives in our hands every time we do leave our homes no matter how desperate the need.

For lack of a vaccine hospitals are being overwhelmed with seriously ill and mortally ill patients.

For lack of a vaccine we may exceed our ability to care for them and people will die because there are not enough ICU beds and ventilators to save them.

For lack of a vaccine we are setting up hospitals in stadiums and fields.

For lack of a vaccine our friends and loved ones are dying alone, separated from spouses, children and parents — the ones who could bring them precious comfort.

For lack of a vaccine we are running out of space in morgues.

For lack of a vaccine our family and friends cannot attend the funerals.

Think we don’t need vaccinations? Think they are a plot by Big Pharma? Think natural immunity is enough?

Look what we’ve suffered for lack of ONE vaccine. Now you have a glimpse of what life could be like before there were any.

Within a year or two there will be a vaccine for COVID-19. Millions of people will rush to get it. Like the flu, they may need a new vaccine each year and millions will readily comply.

And within a generation or two anti-vaxxers will be back to their inane conspiracy theories, as if the world was not convulsed in 2020 for lack of a vaccine.