Dr Safeeya Mohammed,
CEO, SISU Global Wellness
Why did I take the vaccine?
As a teenager, my first encounter with a patient was at a community outreach medical clinic, whose blood sugar was remarkably elevated and the patient became hysterical, refusing the insulin shot. This blood sugar reading was damagingly high, placing her at risk of slipping into a coma. But her fear of needles was so debilitating, it outweighed all logic and required significant efforts to bring her to calm.
The patient did indeed receive the insulin shot, further medication and was stabilised at the hospital. This patient returned to the clinic the next month, this time a changed disposition, grateful that the team did what was necessary to save her life.
To this day, it is an encounter I recall vividly, and that encounter cemented in my mind what my chosen field of practice would eventually be. I became a medical doctor to help people, to save lives.
Dial forward, two decades later and the world is under siege by COVID-19, which has taken more than 3.5 million lives and counting. Our families, our freedoms, our financial security; all disrupted by this “invisible attacker.” A nanoparticle, so small we cannot see with the naked eye, but so highly contagious and destructive, attacking our body, attacking the very system that enables our breath. If there is no breath, there is no life.
In this war, I have administered the vaccine to hundreds of people, monitored them closely, the first 30 minutes, checking in regularly within the 48 hours post-vaccine. All are here today. All are now better equipped with a strengthened immune system to fight this pandemic. It is during times of war; we lose people so rapidly and we need all the armoury and protection to triumph in this war.
Make no mistake, we are in a war and in my opinion, this vaccine is that armoury. I took this vaccine to protect myself from the serious, life-threatening complications of COVID-19, to protect my family, my friends, to safeguard my patients and most importantly, I took this vaccine because I am a mother and I want to be around when my little baba grows up and experiences life. We will get through this pandemic, but we can only do so collectively, with each doing what is necessary to win this war. I took the vaccine, you should too! Let’s win this war!
