Fed up with unvaccinated colleague isolating

[Peevedcolleague]

Name changed 'cos I'll probably get slated but aibu to be pissed off about a colleague self isolating yet again while the rest of us have to carry on and pick up the pieces?

A new colleague chose not to be jabbed and is now facing numerous isolation periods at home on full pay where the rest of us have to carry on and cover her workload. Nature of the job means she's likely to be a close contact fairly regularly.

Even if she changed her mind and gets jabbed tomorrow, it'll be 10 weeks minimum before she's exempt from isolation so this could happen several more times yet.

Aibu to feel resentful and wish she bloody well got jabbed like the rest of us?

@nathanandfanny

And actually she has made a choice for her body but it is essentially a selfish choice. She has chosen not to protect others to protect (as she sees it) herself against the evidence. Many of us who vaccinated did so for other people (elderly relatives/vulnerable friends). I don’t feel this kind of selfish behaviour should be enabled.

OP has not said why her colleague has not had the vaccine. There could be a valid reason.

Strange really that you did it for other people, yet the vast majority of people I have known to have caught Covid are double vaccinated. I know of one unjabbed person who has caught it since being double jabbed was a thing. So who is really catching and spreading it again?

@coconutmonkey

Yes, YABU.

Care to explain why?

@Disabrie22

I think it’s ok to have chosen not to get vaccinated during pregnancy - it can always be done after. It is essentially a live trial after all that we as a country have chosen to take part in. I had my vaccine but was hospitalised both times with severe side effects (1 in 10,000 apparently) due to a rare condition my siblings and I have. My sister was pregnant and the doctor would not give her an alternative vaccine to the one I had. No one in the family felt it was wise for her to get vaccinated incase she miscarried. She worked from home like everyone has, had the baby and got vaccinated. I’m hugely pro vaccine and immunisations but sometimes people do have a good reason for their choices.

I disagree on the ‘live trial’ comment but it’s precisely because there are people that genuinely can’t have the vaccine that the rest of us just need to get on with it?

@LoveGrooveDanceParty

And what kind of person works with children - who can’t be vaccinated - and won’t have it?

But hey, what does she care? She’s off work on full pay while everyone else picks up her slack. And management’s enabling it.

Waves quite a few of us actually. We're not evil people.

Providing she is not getting vaxxed because tiktok fertility untested blah, and not legitimat health or other reasons, they YADNBU. But you know, that's anti-vaxxers. Unwilling to take even the minutest risk of taking one for the team because they are speshul.

It seems some people's choices mean they don't suffer the consequences. Her body, her choice, but in the end I hope employers make the right choice for their workplace and loyal staff and treat her absence as unpaid leave. She isn't actually sick.

@coconutmonkey

Strange really that you did it for other people, yet the vast majority of people I have known to have caught Covid are double vaccinated. I know of one unjabbed person who has caught it since being double jabbed was a thing. So who is really catching and spreading it again?

That because most people are double vaccinated, surely?

Who are the people taking up hospital beds, ICU space, and dying from it now - the vaccinated or unvaccinated?

@Slytherinprincess

That's not true. Why are you stating incorrect facts?

I think you're mad at the wrong person.

It's the rules that are completely unreasonable (ridiculous!!) not your colleague.

Neither of you are being unreasonable. The whole 'no isolation' thing is just a carrot / stick to get more people vaccinated, it doesn't make any logical sense (as with the majority of the covid 'theatre' these days).

You need to isolate if you're unvaccinated and passed a random somebody in a coffee shop... but you don't need to isolate if you're sleeping next to your covid+ husband as long as you've had a vaccine that merely reduces the risk of transmission and doesn't stop it?

Yep... make that make sense.

Also the legalities of not paying her seem shaky to me. If you claim religious exemption (which is a protected characteristic, right?) then I don't see how the gov can mandate you stay home and it must be unpaid? It sounds like something ripe for tribunal imo...

Management need to put something in place that doesn't involve forcing people into doing something they don't want to, for whatever reason. I personally wouldn't care if alcohol were illegal, but I would be up in arms at other people's choices being taken away. It's not an ideal situation, but I don't want to live in a country that says I must have a vaccine or not be able to work/move freely, etc.

I'm sure if her pay started to be docked because she is isolating through not having the vaccine, she'd soon get it!

@coconutmonkey

Strange really that you did it for other people, yet the vast majority of people I have known to have caught Covid are double vaccinated. I know of one unjabbed person who has caught it since being double jabbed was a thing. So who is really catching and spreading it again?

Statistics. That’s because there are vastly more vaccinated people than unvaccinated. So even a small percentage of the vaccinated cohort that still get Covid (bearing in mind they are also far less likely to be hospitalised) is still a large number compared to the larger percentage of the unvaccinated. But I’m guessing you’ve had many chances to become aware of this by now and still sticking to the ‘but vaccinated people can still get it and pass it on’ refrain.

We had this, someone unvaccinated got covid and was off for 8 weeks, their role wasn’t covered so we all nearly worked ourselves stupid covering

We're not evil people.

Is that your war cry?

YANBU. That behaviour is part of why I say if you're making the 'choice' to be a problem to everyone else you a)pay for the tests and b) accept that you don't get paid to isolate if you're not working from home at the same time.

@Slytherinprincess pregnant women are very strongly encouraged to have the vaccine. Photo attracted is from my local health trust

@OnceuponaRainbow18

We had this, someone unvaccinated got covid and was off for 8 weeks, their role wasn’t covered so we all nearly worked ourselves stupid covering

They actually had Covid though. The person in the OP was a close contact.

@5keletor

Management need to put something in place that doesn't involve forcing people into doing something they don't want to, for whatever reason. I personally wouldn't care if alcohol were illegal, but I would be up in arms at other people's choices being taken away. It's not an ideal situation, but I don't want to live in a country that says I must have a vaccine or not be able to work/move freely, etc.

We’re in a pandemic though. Thank god generations before us got on with it and had smallpox etc vaccines. No vaccine is without risk. Nothing is without risk. I’m so tired of the ‘personal choice’ thing. For god’s sake, when did people become so obsessed with personal choice vs doing what makes sense as a whole.

It is an absolute nerve. No wonder you are furious. What a skiving cf.

Sometimes I think the worse pandemic is one of selfishness and lack of critical thinking. If only we had a vaccine for that.

For god’s sake, when did people become so obsessed with personal choice vs doing what makes sense as a whole.

It is so tedious.

What do people think happened to all the diseases and illness that have been eradicated by vaccines?

@LoveGrooveDanceParty - if it’s childcare then ratios will still need to be adhered to. If management need to get agency staff in then it will be hitting their bottom line. How can you be covering for her without breaking the law? Or are you working extra days etc? It it’s that, just do your rostered shifts and no more.

(In response to someone above: if someone is unvaccinated for valid health reasons then of course they should be given paid leave. But other staff still shouldn’t carrry the slack - the government should pay companies to pay for cover (ha!!!! As if)

Why isn’t her pay being docked? You need to take it up with management