I met one of those "I'm not putting that in my body"

[Toorapid]

people this week. I didn't think they really existed.

It was at a (virtual) networking thing. Professional people who are in a category where some LAs are vaccinating us and some aren't. Most people in the "room" had already had the vaccination, except this one very vocal woman.

An educated woman, 40ish, in a position of responsibility, working in a sector supporting vulnerable people (hence the access to vaccines). I've met her before and she always seemed very switched on, socially responsible and very capable in her role.

As I said, I thought these people were a bit of an internet myth, but if they did exist, I didn't expect them to be people like this.

Have you met any?

Have you met any?

Via their Facebook pages, my older cousin (over 50, severe copd) and his son, mid to late 20s) plus some of their SM friends.

All claim the vaccine is too dangerous, not tested, etc.
They acknowledge covid exists,

They even tried to persuade my other older CEV cousin not to have hers. Fortunately she ignored them and had it done.

These people have happily taken various forms of illegal drugs throughout the years bought no doubt from some dodgy dealer down the road 🤷‍♀️

We also have no idea of the number of people who recovered just fine after getting Covid.

Just over 78 million received from confirmed cases, no idea how many of those are just fine though (I suspect vast majority), just that they're still alive and don't have covid anymore.

This is a really silly post. Why did you think these people didn't exist. So you have a very sheltered life?

If a person refuses a vacine. Do you they get another chance?
If they change their minds?

I think it's sad that there are still people in this day and age, living in a civulised society who are srull mistrustfyll of vaccines.
More education is needed.

We need m

@likeamillpond

If a person refuses a vacine. Do you they get another chance? If they change their minds?

I think it's sad that there are still people in this day and age, living in a civulised society who are srull mistrustfyll of vaccines.
More education is needed.

We need m

I guess they'll get invitations to have vaccines every year won't they? Possibly like the flu vaccine.

@saraclara

My hairdresser also said she won't be having it (or at least that was her intention when I last went).

She has the right not to have it, but I also have the right to choose another hairdresser, given that she's in about as close contact as possible for an hour and a half when she does my full head of foils and cut and blow dry.

You do know the vaccine doesn't reduce transmission? Therefore, whether your hairdresser has it or not, it will have no impact on if you catch the virus.

It's like people have heard the word vaccine and jumped on it before actually knowing how the vaccine works and what it is meant to do.

And as for this "do your own research" well, do you know what, I'm not qualified to do my own research on this. If the vast, vast majority of experts are on one side of a debate though, well I'll just go with what they say. That could be on climate change, economics, vaccines whatever. I work in H&S, why would someone like me think I know better than the WHO, the CDC, the NHS, Public Health England, the EMA etc?

@likeamillpond

If a person refuses a vacine. Do you they get another chance? If they change their minds?

I think it's sad that there are still people in this day and age, living in a civulised society who are srull mistrustfyll of vaccines.
More education is needed.

We need m

You should probably ask the tabloids to stop making articles about the children and NHS workers who were effected by the Swine flu vaccination. People can still remember

I have met a few and I really don’t get what the bitching is about. I’m really not interested in what someone does or doesn’t want to do with regards to their health. It’s their choice.
Honestly- there’s a lot to be said for minding your own business. It really is wonderful.

You do know the vaccine doesn't reduce transmission?

I believe the research has recently shown it does (although not yet peer reviewed).

@CoopsMalloops all very well as long as they then don’t pass Covid on to somebody else. They can take the individual risk but they are also putting others at risk with their choices.

@Kendodd correct. Being vaccinated has been shown to reduce transmission. Brand new data.

And a quote from the great Professor Stephen Hawking:

‘The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance: it is the illusion of knowledge.’

@Blessex yeah, well they might. They might not. There’s not a lot that can be done so I just don’t stress about it.

I’ve met plenty of people who don’t want the vaccine (in their 20s and 30s). They all give the reason of the risk of infertility.

@1dayatatime

I am generally pro vaccine but I must admit that it does worry me that a vaccine for the closest known virus to Covid, namely SARS was scrapped after it was shown that it caused that it caused immunopathologic-type lung disease in the test animals. And to date there is no vaccine to SARS

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3335060/#!po=5.42169

This is despite SARS being much more deadly than Covid, having a mortality rate of 10%. So in theory a vaccine for SARS should be a very high priority.

Equally there has been no vaccine developed for MERS which is the next closest relative of Covid despite being first identified in n 2012. And also being much more deadly than Covid.

This all sits rather uneasily with me.

SARS and MERS both died out without causing massive global economic repercussions, overwhelmed healthcare systems and millions of deaths so I’m sure when you think about that rationally you’ll be able to see why there wasn’t the same kind of appetite for throwing mega bucks at developing vaccines.

@CoopsMalloops you are right. I don’t stress about them either as long as they aren’t spouting their conspiracies to others.

The only people I know who say they will decline the vaccine are a couple of Facebook friends - they are more acquaintances than actual friends irl. In both cases, they are also posting things from the more far-fetched end of the spectrum, e.g. microchips and the mark of the beast.

Everyone else I know has either had the vaccine or is very much looking forward to it. As am I, though not as urgent now that I’ve actually had Covid (and fully recovered.)

I have become more relaxed than I was about those who won’t have it. For one thing, there are enough people who do want to have it to keep our vaccinators busy and our supplies used for quite a few months yet. Each person who declines when invited means someone else who is keen can have it that bit sooner. The question is, what happens when we get to the end of the willing receivers?

Maybe some who are currently reluctant will have changed their minds by then, based on what they’ve seen from those who have taken it. Secondly, we will then be able to see whether the 80% or so who have willingly taken the vaccine is enough to suppress it to very low levels. Only if it isn’t would there then need to be a strong campaign to persuade the uncertain.

There has been a lot of discussion about new variants and the risk of vaccine escape. Variants arise in the normal course of virus replication, and the more people the virus infects, the more chance it has to mutate. Therefore the larger the number of people who are not vaccinated, the higher the risk of a variant which is in some way worse than what has gone before.

Such a condescending tone.

I’m probably going to have the vaccine, but I am not confident that it’s completely safe- but then nor are the pharmaceutical companies. All vaccines carry a risk.

@southeastdweller

Narcolepsy has, according to the WHO, been linked to the flu vaccine, in some countries.

Are some people here not bothered about potential long term side effects? Is ‘duty’ more important to you?

Narcolepsy has also been linked to influenza infection

Also SARS and MERS were not anything like as contagious as Covid, and certainly did not spread across the globe like Covid iirc.

@DillyDallyDoodle

Also SARS and MERS were not anything like as contagious as Covid, and certainly did not spread across the globe like Covid iirc.

You are of course correct in that Covid is much more contagious than SARS, however SARS is much more deadly with a mortality rate of 10 %, whereas Covid has a mortality rate of between 0.25% and 1 %.

Also MERS has certainly not "disappeared"" indeed viruses do not simply disappear they are rendered less visible either through natural resistance or resistance from vaccination. During 2020 there were 65 confirmed cases of MERS mostly in Saudi Arabia.

Not everyone is a sheep OP

@PinkTonic

I don't know the exact definition of "mega bucks" but substantial sums were thrown at research into SARS with the aim of developing a vaccine- indeed this was the very reason the Wuhan laboratory was set up with international funding.

SARS and MERS didn't affect anywhere near the number Covid-19 has and - to be perfectly blunt - were not issues for a lot of countries who have thrown a lot of money at a Covid vaccine.

This pandemic has been global, so of course it's had much, much more funding - it effects everyone. Countries who did not have SARS and MERS were not going to fund research into a vaccine for it.

Also, as sad as it feels to say it, 65 cases of a disease in a year is not going to get it any real amounts of funding.