To think you wouldn’t get vaccinated if you knew your risk from covid was low

[Coveed]

Just imagine for a moment there was a calculator that could predict your risk of getting seriously ill or dying from covid. If it turned out you were low risk would you still follow all the advice such as socially distancing and getting vaccinated?

YABU - yes I would still follow the rules and advice even if I were low risk
YANBU - no I wouldn’t endure the hardship of not seeing friends/family and I wouldn’t bother with getting vaccinated as my risk of becoming unwell would be low.

Yes, because I’m not protecting me. I’m protecting the vulnerable.
I’m not really at serious risk from mumps, measles etc, nor are my children. They have them to protect others who can’t have the vaccine.

I would probably be seeing more of my family provided their risk was also low but I would mostly follow guidelines and would still be vaccinated because its not just about me, there's other people in the world.

It's not just about me though. It's about protecting my family, not having to self isolate and lose 2 weeks wages, and the risk I would pose to others who are vulnerable and can't have the vaccine.

Yes of course. I’m not selfish and don’t want others getting ill ot worse or their family members.

Er, there is a calculator that does just that

YABU - why do you think those working in healthcare who are young and healthy get vaccinated, wear FFP2 masks throughout 12 hour shifts as well as to the supermarket etc. and keep social distance etc?

Even though I have had both my vaccinations and am now 21 days post second vaccination I've been wearing a mask for the last 8 hours and took a lateral flow test this afternoon following a negative lab test from Thursday.

I lost enough weight to make me low risk before I got vaccinated.

Hopefully the majority of the population aren't selfish arses - YABU.

I have had covid. I am low risk. I have also had the vaccine already (because of my job). I still felt awful for a week and don't much want it again, and it's as much about not wanting to accidentally pass it on to my parents (who aren't really high risk, but over 60) or the patients I work with.

I won't win the lottery but I still play it

Adults make hard choices all the time. Those choices must look ridiculous to children, but when you're older and understand more of the world you see how it works out.

My chances of getting run over by a bus are low , it doesn't stop me looking both ways before I cross the road .

As @The6thQueen said it not just about me been protected , it is about protecting everyone , that is how vaccines for the masses work . the same way as it worked to eradicate polio and hugely reduce measles and rubella

qcovid.org/

Hows that work? I've been vaccinated against polio. Don't recall a fear of polio. Why's that? Everyone's vaccinated against it.

I have to admit I’m wobbling
-I’m low risk, plus we’ve all had it already
-I always seem to overact to stuff others don’t, I have a history of immune system responses (eg after some Injections I’ve had huge psoriasis flare ups, or after a flu jab ending up in hdu with flu in an unexplainable way, or my allergies flaring up, or joint pain for ages). Nothing concrete and medically provable, but enough to make me wary of unnecessary jabs as it’s been over the course of my child hood and adult life repeatedly. I just seem sensitive to things. I’m not sure I fancy trying another. My sister felt really rough with it (no one else I know did though) and I can’t face days of feeling under the weather and 5 kids, one who is disabled (they’ve caught it already).

Yes, I would and I have. I’m in my 20s with no underlying conditions.

Vaccines work on a large scale. By getting the vaccine I’m protecting my friends and family and the vulnerable children I work with. Despite being vaccinated and low risk I’m also still following lockdown rules, this isn’t about protecting me, it’s about protecting everyone.

Have you missed all the talk about how the virus mutates?

It's not about individual risk but if it's allowed to spread like wildlife it's going to mutate faster and potentially become vaccine resistant so that no one is protected again after a while.

My risk from covid is almost certainly low. The risk of more than a sore arm or a day or two feeling a bit unwell from the vaccine is almost certainly minuscule, plus it protects others and I suspect will be required for travel and potentially other things as well. It doesn’t cost anything and I presume I will be able to get it at a reasonably convenient time and place. No brainer. I’ll have any U.K. approved vaccine as soon as I’m offered.

The social distance stuff, in public, yes I do and would follow it. Once my parents are fully vaccinated, even if I’m not, my children and I might well be closer to them than 2 metres.

Isn't this the case with all vaccines though? And then people stopped getting their kids vaccinated and there were outbreaks of measles again? Yeah, dumb argument.

OP the point of the vaccine and the point of the social distancing guidelines aren’t to minimise your personal risk of getting sick from Covid. They are public health measures designed to protect us at a societal level. So yes, even if my personal risk was zero I would still get the vaccine and I would (and am) 100% follow the lockdown guidelines.

Vaccination is not and never has been about protecting individuals. It is a society wide intervention that only works if those able to be vaccinated do so.

I’m not vaccinated just for me. I’m vaccinated to protect my son, husband, my mother, the patients I’m in contact with each day, the checkout lady at Sainsbury’s, the volunteers who staff our hospital cafe. It’s not like taking antibiotics- it’s not just for your own benefit.

My risk is very low. I'm getting vaccinated to protect the vulnerable people in society.

What a weird Aibu

I haven't answered because it would depend more on other things.

I actually don't consider the risk of covid to me to be particularly high. I've tended to assume ther is a good chance I will get it and I am not bothered by that.

Assuming the risk of the vaccine isn't far out, I'd still get it simply because it will help protect more vulnerable people. I am actually not crazy about the idea of really new drugs in general, I try and avoid them until they have been around for a while as many new drugs turn out to have unexpected side effects or risks. But I plan to go get this one when it is available to me and I'll have my kids get it as well.

However - as far as the other things like socially distancing and masks, avoiding gatherings, group singing, etc - that is a different story. I am willing to forgo those things for a while, with an end in sight. I would not be willing to do them permanently or just as long as some people felt I ought to.

I fully expect covid is going to be endemic as do all the health authorities. I really hope that vaccination will protect more vulnerable people to some extent. But even if it turned out that there is never a vaccination or effective treatment, I am not willing to live all the time with the measures that have been invoked over the past year. I would say by the Autumn there are some that I simply won't be willing to carry on with whatever I'm being told I have to do.

Seriously? It’s not just about you. Being part of society means you consider others and those who cannot get vaccinated.

Yes, I would and I have been. I haven't calculated my risk and it might only be 1% but someone has to be that 1% and I'd rather its not me, I have a family who relies on me and I owe it to them to protect myself and - by extension - them. From a wider POV, the more people who are vaccinated then the less covid can spread, the fewer people who will die or have long terms, and the more society can open back up.

Vaccine went very well, felt a bit ropey for a day or two but so far no extra limbs or xray vision.

Of course I'd get the vaccine. There are lots of illnesses that I am at a low risk of but am still vaccinated against. Most childhood vaccines are like this.

I don't get all this hand wringing about the Covid vaccine at all