My best friend is refusing the jab & trying to convince me to refuse it too.

[Kellogschocrolls]

I feel a bit put-upon by my best friend who is intelligent & very educated & who is refusing to have the jab. She's putting pressure on me to refuse it too, telling me I don't know what I'm poisoning my system with & the true side effects won't be known for years. I don't have the knowledge to argue back I'm just bloody glad to get my dose when the time comes. I feel like I'm being made to feel a naïve fool. Please tell me I'm not being unreasonable. I want to have confidence in this not feel like I'm signing my own death warrant.

Obviously the OP hasn't been back to clarify anything or answer any questions though so it's difficult to know.

I have chosen not to have the vaccine, however I drove my best friend to hwr appointment for her second dose this morning.

Friends respect each other's autonomy.

Don’t discuss it any further with her.

You know you aren’t being unreasonable, the vaccines are safe and a mass vaccination programme is the only way Britain and the world can return to normal and clear up the enormous economic mess we are currently in. But it will only work if it is a MASS vaccination programme if not enough people are vaccinated, the virus will still circulate and mutate.

So your friend is both wrong and selfish - but that’s up to her.

Suggest you point out to her that friends don’t continually question their friends decisions. If she still doesn’t, keep her at a distance for a bit.

It will likely get quite difficult not to be vaccinated so she’ll come round in the end, but I wouldn’t bother pointing that out to her.

I wouldn't necessarily disagree with her view (though I wouldn't put it in such a dramatic way and part of my assessment is also my own risk factors etc) however she has no right to try and convince you of anything if you don't want to discuss it. I'm sure some of my friends will disagree with my stance on the vaccine and I will only without dramatics tho) if they want to. I would never want to convince anyone to have or not have a vaccine - if something happened to them as a result I'd feel shit. Everyone should make their own personal assessment and take responsibility for it.

I think those of us that have chosen to have the vaccine (myself included) should respect those who chose not to. And vice versa.

You simply can't force someone to have the vaccine nor can you force someone to not have it. I have respect for my friend who isn't having it and I hope she has respect for me. It's pointless to argue.