Commercial fishing success rarely occurs overnight. It takes years of hard work to develop the experience needed to work up from greenhorn to deckboss and to captain. Add the fact that any year can be bad due to factors beyond your control: markets, fish stocks, regulations, weather, breakdowns, and the list goes on. One thing you can control is your risk for getting sick or disabled from COVID-19.
Getting vaccinated protects you from serious illness that can keep you off the water for weeks. It also protects you from a disabling, long-term condition, often referred to as "long COVID". Long COVID affects 1 in 4 of those infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Those with long COVID experience a range of conditions, including tiredness or fatigue, difficulty thinking or concentrating, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, headache, dizziness on standing, heart palpitations, chest pain, joint or muscle pain, depression or anxiety, fever, loss of taste or smell, and damage to multiple organs, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, skin, and brain. Many of these conditions have the ability to limit your ability to fish and potentially end your career.
COVID-19 vaccinations reduce your chance of becoming infected, developing serious disease, and dying. If you do become infected, vaccination reduces your chance of developing long COVID by 49%.
It takes years to make a successful fishing career. Don't risk everything you have invested in your future. Use the Vaccine Finder to find your vaccination, get the shot, and Catch Fish. Not COVID.