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?

@covetingthepreciousthings

1) No vaccines have been shown to have long term effects. None. Medications sometimes but vaccines never

Might want to look into Pandemrix..

But the narcolepsy effects did not appear years later. They were apparent within 1-2 months. We are talking about effects that appear in the future rather than immediately.

Simple advice - roll up sleeve, needle in, enjoy benefits of science, and knowledge that you've reduced your chances of ending up struggling to breathe on a COVID ward potentially sharing last words with your family over Skype.

I had mine yesterday. I'm more scared of having long covid as it sounds awful!

I'm sorry but your OP is annoying as fuck. There are dozens of people on here who are ECV or their kids or husbands are, and they're counting down the weeks until they can get vaccinated. And you, who have medical knowledge and no risk factors, are on here whining and hoping someone can 'talk you into' it?

Don't get it. Let someone else get it, who actually wants and needs it in order to live their life. Problem solved.

@IncludeWomenInTheSequel

I'm sorry but your OP is annoying as fuck. There are dozens of people on here who are ECV or their kids or husbands are, and they're counting down the weeks until they can get vaccinated. And you, who have medical knowledge and no risk factors, are on here whining and hoping someone can 'talk you into' it?

Don't get it. Let someone else get it, who actually wants and needs it in order to live their life. Problem solved.

The OP has said she works part-time in an admin role for the NHS, and that she doesn’t have a “health background”.

I think she mentioned the NHS just to be goady. It’s irrelevant to the thread because it hasn’t conferred on her any common sense about the risks of not having the vaccine.

Well that's true! Honestly the selfishness and the ignorance of the fear that others are living with...

@Cassie6

for every person who like me who is a bit hesitant, who asks and gets the argumentative responses or judgement, they won't stop doubting, they'll just stop asking. The opportunity will stop being there for these people to be talked into it, to feel comfortable, to have their questions answered

And

Perhaps a bold statement but if the Covid vaccine fails due to insufficient uptake I think it's not due to the vaccine hesitant, it'll be more in the hands of the judgemental attitudes of those who aren't worried and made those who are feel like the have no choice but to keep quiet or get a tirade of anti vax abuse

This is EXACTLY why these threads shouldn't be deleted & why people need to THINK before they post.

Cassie, I have my sleeve rolled up, just in case there's a spare vaccine going free anywhere/time.

I would rather help people come to the conclusion it's a sensible thing to do, than bully them into doing it or worse still keeping their worries hidden

If anything I've always be wary of vaccines & really looked into any & have paid for ones I felt were better/safer.

I'm now comfortable with the vaccines we will be offered here. But I have to confess to initially feeling that all the vaccines were 'done too quickly', but I have read so much. I now understand how that was able to happen & understand why there really isn't any long term risk of getting the vaccine.

Do you have any specific worries now that you've read your own thread?

@trulydelicious

Those who are willing to take the vaccine now are doing it for their own benefit (and that's fine). It has not yet been proven whether these vaccines prevent transmission or not

No, they're not.

Even if it just reduces the severity of Covid for the people who get vaccinated, it's puts fewer people at risk (because there will be kess Covid in the community) & prevents the NHS being overwhelmed and able to provide the services that are having to be postponed now

There are strong reasons to believe it will prevent transmission & that people with less severe Covid won't transmit the virus as easily

I am very honest about the fact that I'm getting my vaccination because it offers me some protection against such a severe case of Covid, which as a diabetic (over 50) is very welcome. BUT also to help reduce it in the community, help the NHS & staff etc even if I was still 30, no diabetes & fit as fuck I'd still have it because of the community benefit & real risk of long Covid, lung damage etc.

Then dont. Take your chances with the virus (no one knows what happens at years down the line with that either mind).

All this "we don't know if the vaccine will reduce transmission yet"

Of course we do - what scientists mean when they say that is they don't have data yet on when you stop being able to pass it on (because you stop getting infected - the virus is immediately booted out by the antibodies that you created as a result of the vaccine) - after one dose, after 2 weeks? 6 weeks after second dose? etc. Immunity takes time to build up - because your body does it, in time, as a result of the vaccine.

It doesn't mean "oh we think it might be the case that virtually everyone that gets the vaccine will still be riddled with covid19 virus and be constantly shedding it and passing it to other people, months later" That's not how vaccination and immunity works - and is why you don't know anyone who gets Small Pox, Polio or Yellow Fever any more.

I would think about it this way. If you had covid and started to struggle catching your breath so were taken to the hospital and they offered to try to treat you with a very new drug that had only been licensed a couple of months ago but had good outcomes and minimal to no side effects based on short-mid term observations would you say no I won’t take it in case there is a more serious side effect later? I’m thinking likely not so what this comes down to is your perception of how risky the virus is vs how risky the vaccine is. Maybe it would help you to take a look at some statistics on the risks of the illness as while a relatively small proportion of people (particularly younger ones) become seriously ill it is a fact that some do end up in hospital with invasive treatment and that some die in pretty much all age groups. Add to that the not insignificant risk of long term symptoms even with a relatively mild initial illness. Offset with known risks of the vaccines (there are some but most are very very mild and serious ones are unlikely). If you know for a fact there is a small risk of death to you from the disease and a larger risk of long term side effects and you know that the vaccine is expected to also give some level of protection to society as a whole do you really feel that not being 100% sure there can’t possibly be an unknown side effect makes it worthwhile not taking the vaccine. For me I weigh it as a known small but very serious risk with the illness vs a possibility there might be a risk

In my eyes everything in life has risks and benefits. The benefits of having some immunity to Covid far outweigh the tiny, unknown risks of the vaccine.

Thank you Cassie6 for being brave and starting a discussion about having real concerns about the covid vaccine without in any way being an anti-vaxxer. I also have concerns linked to my autoimmune condition and as far as I can gather; none of the vaccines were tested on people in this category so I don't really want to be told that it's safe when not enough information is available.

can't offer you zero risk, obviously.

two words: long covid. And whatever your age, that IS a real risk.

not unreasonable to question, but given you probably aren't over 80 and are being offered the vaccine; that's because you have a high chance of contracting covid. In your shoes I'd be rolling up my sleeve.

www.nejm.org/covid-vaccine/faq

Christ 23 people in Norway have died soon after taking the vaccine. Weird that’s it’s all on one country... Could the batch be at fault?

So many of the deaths have been discounted as being due to the recent vaccine... but I do find this worrying.
www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n149

[quote Brandnewcovidday]Christ 23 people in Norway have died soon after taking the vaccine. Weird that’s it’s all on one country... Could the batch be at fault?

So many of the deaths have been discounted as being due to the recent vaccine... but I do find this worrying.
www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n149[/quote]
Over 20,000 people have been vaccinated in Norway, mainly elderly people in nursing homes.

Of those, 23 'frail, elderly' people have died.

If you took 20,000 of the most medically vulnerable people in society, and did absolutely nothing to them, it wouldn't be surprising if 23 of them died.

Covid can have long term effects too. I'm a healhcare worker so I had the jab. No other way I'm afraid.

[quote Brandnewcovidday]Christ 23 people in Norway have died soon after taking the vaccine. Weird that’s it’s all on one country... Could the batch be at fault?

So many of the deaths have been discounted as being due to the recent vaccine... but I do find this worrying.
www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n149[/quote]
Its because the side effects after giving it to such vulnerable people.

If you were going to have a reaction it would be pretty much immediate. Delayed reactions don’t happen with vaccines far as I know.

As the Oxford vaccine is dead I THINK bad reactions would be fewer (someone rush in to correct if necessary) but they will be few anyway, there are enough of these types of vaccines about.

So chill. And roll up your sleeve. And it’s not about whether any of us individually think we need it, it’s about stopping it ripping through the population - I know you know this but there is no moral choice. Also! I doubt we’ll be able to fly without soon.

As the Oxford vaccine is dead

None of the vaccines are live SARS-CoV-2. The Oxford vaccine uses an attenuated adenovirus. The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are mRNA. The reactions have nothing to do with whether the vaccine is live or not.

I listened to a podcast (This American Life) where they interviewed some scientists who have been developing vaccines. It's a fallacy that they have 'just come up with' the COVID vaccine. They have been working on coronavirus vaccines for a while, they just needed to adapt it for COVID 19

The ingredients used in the vaccine are not new- so we already know the long term effects of these (which is that with the exception of an extremely rare allergic reaction there are no long term effects) The only new bit is using the viral RNA in the vaccine. You would be exposed to substantially more viral RNA if you got covid. We are however seeing more and more effects of long covid in younger patients- the lung damage and associated conditions that this will lead to are far worse than anything the vaccine will do.

Apart from all of the sensible reasoned evidence others have posted above, I also took into account the fact that I work in the NHS and all of the doctors I work with were keen to have it.

Also a friend's daughter is a research scientist, has worked on some related projects and is very keen to get her parents and grandparents vaccinated