MTF Founder and Chairman Dr. Alton Barron’s full statement:
Dear Friends of MTF,
How badly do you want to bring back live music and the livelihoods of the amazing and talented musicians of all genres who make the world a better place every single day? We are determined to bring back live music performances and live audiences as soon as possible.
And we can see some light ahead, now that safe and effective vaccines are available. About 11 million COVID vaccines have been given safely so far in the U.S. Symptoms following the vaccine are mild and short-lived. We understand, especially based on misinformation being propagated through social and other media, that many people are worried about the safety of the COVID vaccine, since it only took about one year to develop the currently approved vaccines. That speed of development was NOT because the scientific process was rushed while safety measures were cast aside. It was because the scientific techniques and technology have been advancing so rapidly in recent decades.
Consider this: How many people do you know who have polio? In the 50’s, polio was paralyzing or killing over half a million people worldwide EACH year. Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine in 1952. If the U.S. had not embraced the administration of the vaccine, millions of us would not have been born because one of our parents could easily have died from the devastating effects of the polio virus. This terrible scourge was essentially eliminated from the world by this vaccine, as have many other deadly viral illnesses over the 70 years since then.
The polio vaccine was a LIVE attenuated (weakened) vaccine. Live virus in small amounts was actually being injected to allow our immune systems to fight it off and build lifelong immunity. The COVID vaccine is nothing of the sort! It is made of HARMLESS pieces of mRNA (genetic material) from the coronavirus. These vaccines simply cannot cause the disease to develop. They are just exposing our immune systems to pieces of the virus to allow us to fight off the real virus upon exposure.
So please, join us in getting the vaccine as soon as you are offered one. For healthy people without medical co-morbidities or advanced age, that may be 6 months from now. But you can still encourage everyone who can get a vaccine, to do so as soon as it is offered to them. This will change the world and bring us back to a much better place economically, psychologically, and MUSICALLY!
With love, respect, and gratitude,
Dr. Alton Barron
Founder and Chairman, The Musician Treatment Foundation
Dr. Alton Barron also recorded a video speaking on the vaccine, check it out here.