I am a scientist. My area of expertise is food safety and the contaminants that can make food unsafe to eat. Be they biological, chemical or physical hazards, I have studied these issues for over 10 years.

I AM NOT an expert on other illnesses, such as the Coronavirus, but I read medical journals, I talk to my doctor (She is an awesome lady that I trust very much). And I try to understand the medical decisions that happen on a day to day basis, but again, I am no expert. I rely on experts like my doctor to help me fill in the gaps about what is best for me.

I have been vaccinated many times for many different things. Having lost my vaccine history, I had to have vaccines for items I was vaccinated for as a child, such as Measles, Mumps, & Rubella. When I went to go work in South Korea back in 2016, I was vaccinated against several items as well, such as a booster vaccine for Hepatitis A and Salmonella typhi (aka typhoid). Every year I have received a flu vaccine as well. In the last few years, I have also received a Hepatitis B vaccine and as a gay man, was on Truvada, a pre-exposure prophylaxis used to help keep a person that is HIV negative to keep from catching the virus. Just so you know, that treatment is registered as being approximately 99% effective in preventing transmission. This last April, my partner and I got our #COVID-19 #vaccines. Two shots of Pfizer. I had no issues, he had body aches for several days.

Coronavirus scares me a hell of a lot more than any other illness I have studied, and there are a lot of biological foodborne illnesses even though current food safety courses only focus on the top five, two of which are viruses.

It breaks my heart to hear friends and family say that they will not get the vaccine. It reminds me of the story of the man on the roof of his house, refusing help from everyone that passed by, saying “God will save me”. When he dies, the man asks God why he didn’t save him and God reminded him that he sent many boats to rescue him. God gave us doctors and nurses so that we can be healed and not suffer.

It is a mad world we are living in my friends & family, please stay safe.