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.

@ContessaDiPulpo

I'm amused at the OP's feigned? shock that do many people are thinking of others, not just themselves. The majority will be considering vulnerable people in their own lives, while the rest (Inc me) are uncomfortable with the thought of saying 'Screw you vulnerable sorts, I'm off to do whatever the fuck I want'.

Something about the writing style makes it sound like this wasn't a question asked in good faith though

Agree. Their agenda was showing from the first post. Almost no one asks these questions in good faith on here. As the thread progresses it's always clear what they want to happen in the thread and are bothered that we aren't falling into line. It's beyond tedious now.

They also sound like a lone voice from the past (medieval pheasant believing in witchcraft, as someone said) when the vast majority of people are taking up the offer of a vaccine and are happy about it.

Yes of course, I’m appalled any one would not and continue to increase transmission

I see the anti-vaxxers arrived overnight trying to sow discord and misinformation.

@Changechangychange that’s a good point about the stage in the pandemic in which the research was undertaken. I remember early on in the pandemic people were very strictly adhering to the rules, do you think they might be doing this less now, because knowledge has increased and therefore fear decreased?

There is no risk or inconvenience to the vaccine. I had mine in a chemist while out shopping, no side effects, why on earth would I not do this even if I am not at much risk from COVID.

Do I want to stay SD’d and have the country ‘closed’ for months? No, time for putting up with that would run out. But vaccinations is the way forward. Why would I not do it?

Bizarre question.

I am vaccinated against other things that hold little risk for me. Mumps, for example.

The problem with this is the assumption that you're either seriously ill / die or you have a very mild illness. There are lots of people who have a protracted recovery, many of whom had no underlying conditions and were infected in the first wave in March last year.

OhYouBadBadKitten i am encouraged that their voices are being drowned out by those disagreeing with them though. I get the impression that there are fewer around now, but i haven't been around much the last few days. I may be wrong.

My risk is low. But I keep the rules because I don’t want to be responsible for someone else getting it from me and becoming seriously ill. My DC is at nursery and I am grateful to those nursery workers for minding her so that I can work - I want to ensure the risk of us bringing covid into the nursery is as low as possible. I will gladly get the vaccine as soon as I can. I am hopeful that after more people are vaccinated, we can return to a more normal life and I won’t have to worry about inadvertently making someone seriously ill.

I just want to repeat, this thread is not about the benefits or risks of vaccination. There’s lots of information available on the 2 different vaccines currently available in the UK, the data are freely available, a good starting point is www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/coronavirus-vaccine/

Also, I can see there is a split emerging, people would be happy to have regular vaccinations but would be less happy about having to maintain social distance measures. Thanks everyone who contributed, it’s been really helpful to hear your thoughts/rationale.

On the gov site that I checked last night it said that there's no proof that people can't pass it onto others it makes the symptoms less for the person that's had it

So @Coveed , be honest, why did you name change for this post?

@1useonly

On the gov site that I checked last night it said that there's no proof that people can't pass it onto others it makes the symptoms less for the person that's had it

Yes, it's not been proven as yet, so needs to be assumed that it doesn't stop transmission. Studies are being done, though, and they point towards reduced transmission (not sure if they are pointing towards stopping it entirely)

@1useonly
The data indicates that vaccinated people shed less of the virus if they become infected and therefore are less likely to transmit to others, and even if they do, the resulting infection is likely to be less severe due to the vaccinated person having a lower viral load initially www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid-19-pfizer-vaccine-may-reduce-transmission/amp

I’m not the thread police but really just wanted to keep this thread to hearing about people’s thoughts about how knowing their individual risk might affect their behaviour.

[quote Coveed]@SaskiaRembrandt
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7185265/[/quote]
Thank you!

You can't put in your title that you think people wouldn't get vaccinated if their risk of disease was low, without letting people discuss the benefits vs risks of vaccines, because that's obviously a massive part of the equation. The risks of the vaccines are even lower than the relatively low risk of covid for most people, and the benefits far beyond your own personal benefit of not getting it. So obviously it's a factor.

The OP was also worded as if the calculator could actually predict your individual risk accurately - like a thought experiment where you did know what would happen to you. In reality, even though people's risk might be low because of their age group and health, we all know that Covid is so totally unpredictable and the risks of serious consequences to random people in the low-risk groups matter. There is also a lot we don't know about the longer-term effects that might not appear straight away, like lung scarring etc., even to people who seemed totally asymptomatic, so again, this sort of question can be nothing but a thought experiment, as we simply don't know the actual risk.

A lot more is known about vaccines and how they work.

And whatever the writing style, agenda, etc, or potential journalist, people feel they have to keep responding to things like this, even if they are suspicious, because they end up spreading doubt and misinformation, and it benefits everyone if the other side of the issue is presented in a rational way.

Disingenuous. Why have you really started this thread?

I jumped at the chance to have the vaccine (because of work) even though I think my risk is low because, whilst the inequality of it worries me a lot, I do think at some point we'll have some sort of vaccine passport system.

Plus the moral duty to protect others and I'd have probably done it anyway because of my work, but if I'm honest it was the prospect of having restrictions that others might not that was my main driver.

YABU

The virus affects us all whether low risk or not. What if I were to get some other condition that needed urgent treatment and I couldn’t because the hospitals were inundated with Covid still? Cancer patients are getting their therapy cancelled.

It’s about lowering the incidence generally.

Do some people think that people not having the flu vaccine is selfish?

Yabu

Most of us are more than capable of reading and therefore know that for many people the risk is low, but for some people the risk is much higher. We know that some vulnerable can't be vaccinated.

I am CV and have had covid. I was in hospital and off work for 7 weeks. 4 months later I'm still not fully better and now have a life long health issue to add to the others which made me CV.

The chance of me catching it again are low but if I did I could become quite ill. I've been vaccinated now.

Dh is low risk, as is 18y dd. But they are both following the rules and both will be vaccinated. They know it's important to other more vulnerable in society for them to do so.

I know of only one person who isn't being vaccinated. He is mid 50s and CEV. But he's fallen for the Facebook myths surrounding this vaccine. Apparently some bloke off the 'net knows better than scientists and experts 🤷‍♀️

medieval pheasant believing in witchcraft, as someone said

I’m not sure if that was an autocorrect fail, but that is hilarious.

"Just imagine for a moment there was a calculator that could predict your risk of getting seriously ill or dying from covid"

Just imagine if there was a calculator that already exists 🤪

@TangerineGenie

Do some people think that people not having the flu vaccine is selfish?

The flu doesn't leave so many people fucked up for months (or even for ever we don't know yet). It also doesn't overwhel hospitals the way this does now. If it did, I would treat the vaccine same way.

@Coveed

Most people responding have focussed largely on getting the vaccine - what about other things like maintaining social distance/not seeing friends or family. Would knowing you are low risk affect your motivation to do that?

Of course. It's what the vast majority of my family and friends have been doing since March, most of whom are low risk. But we are doing it to protect the more,vulnerable too, plus the odd low risk person who,catches it and gets a bad dose.

@Coveed

Thanks for all your responses, it’s really interesting hearing the opinions of others. For those of you who would continue to maintain social distance measures/get vaccinated despite being low risk, would you be willing to do this regularly? Maybe even annually if necessary?

Yes. I have a flu vaccine annually. I a, more susceptible so get it free.

18y has a pain for flu vaccine annually. She got an unpleasant dose of flu whilst in year 10 min mock exams and ever since she has had a flu vaccine 'just in case.'

Dh will be having an annual flu vaccine - he works with elderly and vulnerable clients and it helps to protect them.