Can someone talk me into the vaccine?

[Cassie6]

Embarrassed to even be writing this. I work for the bloody NHS for gods sake. My children have had all their vaccinations. I'm really not anti vax in the slightest and I'm surprised that I feel this way but I'm really scared to get the vaccine.

I'm scared because there's no knowledge of if anything could happen long term after having it, 15+ years down the line? Like there have been no long term studies? Can someone with a bit more knowledge explain to me if this is actually a thing?

I've seen it explained on here to people countless times that it hasn't been rushed there's just not been the waiting time there usually is with vaccine development and I understand that but I still feel uneasy about the long term effects.

In my mind my children and I are at such a low risk of being seriously ill that there's not much point having it when it could go wrong. However working in the NHS this is not the attitude and I'm so miserable living in lockdown after lockdown I know I need to do my bit.

So can someone convince me. Can someone explain logically what I'm getting wrong and unnecessarily anxious about?

Surely if you work in the NHS you’re in an ideal position to get someone who is actually knowledgeable to explain it to you rather than a bunch of randoms on the internet who are likely to be as ill informed as you? Failing that there is a huge amount of high quality information available at the click of a mouse. I haven’t even been looking for it but I’ve seen numerous articles explaining why long term effects aren’t a thing and debunking all the social media scaremongering. Read things, talk to people. Doctors aren’t refusing the vaccine. Become better informed and part of the solution. Posting negativity on here as an ‘NHS worker’ makes you part of the problem. But you know that right?

Yes it may be risky. But so too are the long term effects of having covid. We don't know those risks either. It appears it's affecting so many different areas of the body, we don't know if it will affect our children 15 years down the line either. We know long covid is a thing, we don't yet know the long term affects on healthy youngsters who appear to have it mildly.

On balance, I'd rather take the vaccine and its associated risks.

@lightand

Do you or your kids have the flu vaccine? that's new every year

Actually it isnt. It is tweaked.
Major difference between that and brand new vaccines.

And the covid 19 vaccine is a tweaked version of an existing vaccine too 🤷‍♀️

@Sunshinegirl82

Delayed side effects are not a "thing" with vaccines

For the Pandremix vaccine, narcolepsy symptoms started to become evident after about 1 year. It's not common, but it does happen

@InterfectoremVulpes

And the covid 19 vaccine is a tweaked version of an existing vaccine too

This is not correct. These are new vaccines.

Like others have said - vaccines don't stay on your system for long - they are broken down by the immune system. This is why vaccines don't have 'long term effects'.

I think you need to be able to assess risk rather than follow 'feelings'. The risk of the vaccine damaging you is very very probably much much less than Covid damaging you (death or long covid).

We know a great great deal about vaccines now (millions and millions of doses of all vaccines over decades all over the world) and unless you have some specific and very rare immune dysfunction that specifically rules them out (that you would probably know about by now) you would be very unlikely to have any issues.

People actually don't realise that there is good evidence that some vaccines protect you from other illnesses unrelated to the one the vaccine targets e.g. studies of millions of doses of the BCG in India showed that those children had much better survivial rates from other diseases.

I actually have immune dysfunction and have as many vaccines as I can get my hands on. So do my children and I started out from a critical position and did a great deal of research before I vaccinated them.

@TitsOot4Xmas

RNA/spike vaccines have been part of studies for decades

Being part of 'studies' is not the same as obtaining emergency approval for mass vaccination

I was worried about the same thing, then I was pointed towards a piece of research that explains how this particular vaccine works. Basically the vaccine contains an instruction to our body to create a specific type of protein that is found on the outside of COVID virus. This protein is harmless but an integral part of the virus. Like a uniform. By itself it does nothing.

Our immune system then rises up against the phony uniform proteins and defeats them. Next time the uniform is seen on an actual virus our body knows how to get rid of it. All this without actually getting our bodies anywhere near the COVID virus.

At least that's how I understood it and it reassured me greatly.

@InterfectoremVulpes
And the covid 19 vaccine is a tweaked version of an existing vaccine too
Define "tweaked" in the covid19 vaccine please.

For instance, the Pffizer one uses a new method of delivery, which many people are not comfortable with yet, as it is new. Brand new as far as I know.

*Do you or your kids have the flu vaccine? that's new every year

Actually it isnt. It is tweaked.
Major difference between that and brand new vaccines.*

Actually that's my point - so are all vaccines, including the newer be means ones. all modern day vaccines build on existing techniques and delivery mechanisms. All that chnages is the bit of DNA/RNA that is specific to the disease they are attempting to eradicate.

As PP’s have said; the vaccine isn’t something which was developed in a rush from scratch, bypassing all safety protocols.

They took an existing method and tweaked it slightly to apply to COVID. Most of the component parts have been around for ages and have been thoroughly tested over the years. What do you feel about the flu jab? That’s changed every year to be most effective and so is technically a “new” vaccine, but we happily have that one without fuss.

Also as PP have said, there are no “long term affects” of vaccines, that’s not how they work. If there are going to be side affects, they usually show up straight away (even the debilitating ones). Nothings going to suddenly happen 10 years down the line. The COVID vaccine isn’t using a radically different methodology which would increase that risk.

Also, when you’re comparing risks, make sure to include the risk of long COVID, not just deaths - it’s terrifying to look at the statistics of otherwise young, healthy people struggling with the after affects even when the initial infection wasn’t actually “that bad” (I.e they didn’t end up in hospital but are still struggling with respiratory or circulatory issues months later).

The likelihood of long term effects is very low because the vaccine has been developed using other vaccines and just changing the virus within it. So all of the other ingredients have been around forever.

You may be at low risk of dying of covid but nobody knows if they’re going to get long Covid or organ damage.

It will hopefully stop you transmitting it to others who are vulnerable and could die.

Long term, the more people who have it the greater our chances of it becoming a disease people don’t really get. We may need annual boosters like with the flu jab but hopefully people will be more inclined to get this one.

Development wise, as I said they used what they already had. Most vaccines take years to develop due to lack of volunteers and funding. This was not an issue this time.

The elderly are having it and aren’t dropping dead.

@Duckyneedsaclean

vaccines don't stay on your system for long

The effects of the vaccine on the immune system is long term (otherwise, why would you have them?)

This is my friends little boy, completely fit and healthy 7 year old before they got covid. Thankfully he is ok but with potential long standing effects. You just don't know how covid will affect you or your kids

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/boy-7-left-no-memory-23267495

Including the newer mRNA ones.

I feel the same op, my mind is changing day by day and minute by minute!

I'm not against these vaccines, by the way, it's just worrying that some keep on repeating statements that are incorrect and dismiss any valid questions/unknowns

Also, when you’re comparing risks, make sure to include the risk of long COVID, not just deaths - it’s terrifying to look at the statistics of otherwise young, healthy people struggling with the after affects even when the initial infection wasn’t actually “that bad” (I.e they didn’t end up in hospital but are still struggling with respiratory or circulatory issues months later).

And now brain damage is a real possibility too.

The Oxford vaccine has been developed using the same technology and science that we have used for hundreds of years . We have used the same technology to develop the flu vaccine for instance. There are millions of people worldwide vaccinated using vaccines developed this way. Whilst vaccine reactions have very very occasionally happened, even the ones people love to quote as as causing problems, do this with a risk in the order of magnitude so small as to make a child's risk of dying from Covid look high in comparison. In both cases the risks are miniscule.

The risk of dying Covid for a young adult over 18 is also very very small but it is almost certainly higher than any risks associated with vaccination and the risks of getting Long Covid are almost certainly much much much higher than from vaccination of any sort

The Oxford vaccine started being developed several years ago when we had SARS as a problem and they did a lot of work on it . They had to stop because when that epidemic passed and their development money dried up. So when they went back to it in Jan 2020 they had already done a lot of development work. Money was then thrown at it so they did everything they needed to just in parallel and with no money constraints. They were not starting from zero.

Lots of the other vaccines do use new techniques to develop them ( mostly based on our new knowledge of DNA I think ).
I can sort of understand people are maybe concerned about long term effects of these but as mentioned the same was true when we first started vaccinating with the current sorts of vaccines. Only time and vaccinating lots of people can test Kong term effects.. I personally will take these new ones because I definitely am more worried about Covid than any potential side effects down the line but maybe those who know more about this have more reassurance to offer on that for you

There are very few drugs in the world that have as many people use them ( billions) with so few measured side effects as vaccines but I have found that when people are anxious about vaccines these facts don't always help as evidenced by some of the answers to this thread

@pinbinpin

all modern day vaccines build on existing techniques and delivery mechanisms

Pfizer, Moderna and the Oxford vaccine are new technology The 'tweaking of existing vaccines' line is incorrect

@Dyrne and @FatCatThinCat
I am a bit aghast at both of you saying this
Also as PP have said, there are no “long term affects” of vaccines, that’s not how they work

Plus other things in your posts here, that are doubtful at best.

I now see how "rumours" fly around.

Plenty of people, sadly live with long term effects of vaccines, around the world, and yes, even in the UK.
Vaccine manufacturers themselves do not actually hide[well they may hide what exactly in the first instance] that there are long term effects in some unfortunate people.

No, they're not

@bumblingbovine49

We have used the same technology to develop the flu vaccine for instance

The flu vaccine I've had is whole inactivated virus , nothing to do with mRNA vaccines or chimpanzee adenovirus carrying a Covid spike protein!

It's not a new vaccine though - that's how it's come about so quickly. They have adapted a 'base' vaccine which has been around for years.

And yes, you might think you're low risk, but my dd stepmum who works for the NHS thought so too. She's never been so ill. Four weeks now of illness and it was looking like she may have to be hospitalised. Goodness knows what damage it's done to her. Also, my perfectly healthy friend with no underlying conditions has been left unable to walk by himself for life as so much damage was done to his body. His kidneys failed, he had a heart attack, a blood clot.

It's fucking scary. The latest is scans from a smokers lungs compared to a covid survivor. The smokers lungs look just dandy compared to covid - so even if you survive it now, what damage has it done that will bite you in the bum in the future?