Q: My fitness fanatic friend is afraid that if she takes the Covid-19 vaccine, side effects will interrupt the great gains she’s making. I’m desperate, please help.
A: We have news for you: your friend is not a fitness fanatic, she’s an anti-vaxxer. Forgive the bluntness, I’ve been accused of driving wedges into friendship circles “by subscribing to a mainstream narrative”.
Can you believe that? Of course it’s a mainstream narrative — there is a global pandemic and it is happening everywhere, all the time. You don’t get more mainstream than that.
One finds that the educated anti-vaxxers tend to skirt around the issue. They prefer not to publicly spout things about microchips being planted by the Illuminati. But even then, why would anyone worry? This is SA; the microchips would be offline by Tuesday and the cables transmitting our data to Bill Gates would be stolen by the end of the month.
Rather than pretending to be experts in the function of vaccines or to be genuinely concerned about the world’s long-term fertility, they tend to find rational-sounding reasons for their inexplicable avoidance. However, most are in denial. Denial is a bit more complicated. For instance, one can lose an election without losing, but not because you didn’t win. Or, at least, the opposition joined forces with a bunch of other losers to make it seem like you lost. It’s a web of hot air.
Your friend is doing the right thing with exercise. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of studies dedicated to the immunity boosting effects of exercise, even a recent one that found regular physical activity is associated with a 31% reduction in the risk of contracting an infectious disease.
You know, I know, we all know, the vaccine won’t disrupt her fitness journey. Some trainers — in the interests of playing it safe — advise their clients to take an easy walk or the day off when they get the jab — but this is mainly due to possible side-effect symptoms.
There’s no evidence that the vaccine cannot “handle” exercise. Rather, some people get symptoms that make exercise uncomfortable — a sore arm, fatigue or other flu-like symptoms. No two people react the same way. I didn’t have symptoms, but some people had aches and pains. These are not the same as allergic reactions to the vaccine which are exceedingly rare, and one should always “listen to your body”. If you have a blasting headache — even unrelated to vaccines — don’t exercise. Common sense should prevail.
Symptoms may delay your friend getting back on the tarmac or into the gym with full intensity. But this day or two would pale in comparison to being struck down with a severe case of Covid-19. What’s the harm in pausing for a few days?
One of the sports scientists I’ve engaged for a few articles over the years was infected with Covid-19 during the second wave. This fitness fanatic expected it to be a walk in the park. Now, for whatever reason — and we are not in the business of jumping to medical conclusions — it didn’t. This person spent weeks in high care, and then emerged suffering from the effects of long Covid and couldn’t train for two months.
Your friend’s fear of falling off the wagon for one or two days seems even more stupid, and selfish, than before.
A year ago, I wrote about a training colleague that fell into a coma. It’s been a long road but he’s back in the swing of things. He was adamant he would not be vaccinated for a number of reasons — all of which irritated the sense of humour out of me.
Last week a message landed that he had “taken the plunge ... I don’t want to be the one that endangers the lives of people with compromised immunity”.
There’s hope that with enough encouragement and — quite possibly increased business and government pressure — more people will come to their senses. Tell her she won’t lose her gains and that while we don’t know exactly how effective the vaccines are, they’re certainly more effective than leaving our survivability, and that of our parents, to chance.
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