Why do people seem to want to believe vaccines aren't effective?

[Notabove25]

Or not effective enough?

All the evidence I've seen, seems to be that even one dose offers a very high level of protection against becoming seriously ill, even if it can't protect you 100% from ever returning a positive test.

Why do some people seem desperate to believe that vaccination won't help, that there's still a high possibility of getting long Covid after the jab, that mutations will render it useless etc?

To my mind, most of the most vulnerable are now vaccinated or will be very soon, which is excellent news and really should mean we can start getting back to normal. Why do so many seem to want to believe otherwise?

Vaccines aren't that scary for most adults unless they are phobic.

No, but it's not most adults who are willing to believe that vaccines are ineffective, is it? Most people trust them just fine. It's a minority who aren't sure.

[quote im5050]@HolmeH
Why would it be reported and to who
2 are elderly with other health conditions
My dad and my neighbours aunt aren’t in the same hospital and the other person didn’t end up in hospital
Because the two elderly people have other health problems it would be easy to assume that is the reason they are in hospital and it may well nothing to do with the jab apart from the fact that they were both perfectly ok before they had the jab[/quote]
So nothing to do with him not taking his medication then?

There are unknowns still.
But that doesn’t take away from the things we do know now that time has passed about very very positive effects of the vaccine.

The fact that new things could emerge in the future or the fact 100% of cases or deaths will never be eradicated through the vaccine, does not mean the vaccine isn’t effective. It doesn’t have to be perfect to be effective.

People seem to struggle to weigh different bits of information against each other and reach supported and sensible judgements.

The pandemic has ruined the phrases "I'm afraid" and "you do realise" and "but you know that, don't you" for me.

I've had my first jab and I can live with incomplete data, not immunisation as usually understood but 'just' possible preventative prophylactic reduction of disease severity (and related reduction of transmission) hospitalisation and death and lack of long term safety data but I'm a belt and braces person.

I'm not happy that the MATH+/MASK+ protocols were not adopted earlier/at all and have been required to provide more complete data despite trial and real world evidence of effectively in reducing morbidity and mortality as prophylactic and treatment at early and later stages (the best vaccine is useless as a treatment).

I'm not happy that 'rich' countries have such high mortality and morbidity levels with relatively low positive cases. Plus the lockdowns, transfer of wealth and increase in inequality etc. Reliance on drug companies to find a vaccine to save us. Pretence that there was no choice whilst making self interested choices.

I don't advocate, given where we are, a black and white approach. I can't help thinking that the vaccination program is less of a causal factor in reduction as lockdown given that those vaccinated (3 weeks ago) were not the drivers of community spread and that there always has been and still is a case for the MASK+ protocol. Let's not forget that the average age of those in ICU is 60. So reduction of over 80s being hospitalised will have no effect.

The sodding media doesn't help! I'd love to believe all the vaccines are 10000% effective but every day I wake up to

NEW XXXXXXXX VARIANT MAY DEFEAT VACCINES

it's fucking annoying.

Viruses mutate. It's time to stop reporting each time this coronavirus does. It's scaremongering and unhelpful. In my very humble opinion (lest I get jumped upon by rabid lockdown supporters).

I'm confident the vaccines we have will work well enough for us to go back to normal. Treat it like the flu. End of. No new normal; no pussyfooting around possible further lockdowns. There has to be an end to this.

Injections are scary and painful

Painful for a few seconds maybe, but I don't think most adults find injections done by trained professionals to be 'scary'.

Remember also how at first, the government really undersold the vaccines, telling us "they're not effective"? Then suddenly, the spin machine changed gear, and the message mutated with one of Saint Boris's famous U-turns. "It's your civic duty to get jabbed!" (Ah, great. Where can I get mine? The merry men have not offered it to me yet.)

This is why people do not know what to believe whenever Saint Boris or one of his merry men speaks.

It's a bloody good question.

Doom mongers, rabid lockdown lovers, the self appointed Covid police, and writers of headlines designed to induce fear and panic know their days are numbered. They’re losing their grip on the nations psyche and it pleases me greatly that more and more people are increasingly ignoring them in the face of mounting evidence of vaccine vaccine effectiveness. It’s a bit pathetic really, watching them desperately clutching at straws about mutant variants...

Remember also how at first, the government really undersold the vaccines, telling us "they're not effective"?

No, I don't remember that.

It may have already been published sorry if it has but the results are brilliant>

Results from the first study to describe the real world effectiveness of COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca have demonstrated that the vaccine is able to substantially reduce the risk of COVID-19 related hospitalisation by 94% after the first dose. These findings, published on the 22 February 2021 as a pre-print, were based on data from 1.14 million COVID-19 vaccinations administered in Scotland, UK with approximately 490,000 people having received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

@IcedPurple

Injections are scary and painful

Painful for a few seconds maybe, but I don't think most adults find injections done by trained professionals to be 'scary'.

I quite enjoyed my excursion to get jabbed today - everyone was so pleasant and helpful, and the pain from the needle was small and transitory.

For me, it's the known unknowns such as "What happens when you start opening up the country before the vulnerable JCVI 9 have had their second jab and before half the country have even had their first?"

And the unknown unknowns such as "What effect are new variants going to have?" "How fast will this thing spread if we let it rip? How many people will have it at once?" "How many people off sick at the same time can the economy stand?"

Plus the maths of understanding that a small percentage of a very large number can still be a big problem.

(If only 5% are getting seriously ill from covid but because we don't care about cases any more, 5 million people catch it, that 5% is 250,000 people.)

Personally I hope for the best but expect the worst, that way I have all bases covered.

I really want to believe that the vaccine is effective. But I can’t and don’t.

I’ve researched etc

I’ve been offered the vaccine as a Carer. I want to be vaccinated against Covid but an alarm bell is telling me not to and I don’t know why.

Maybe it’s all the uncertainty, misinformation and government lies. I don’t trust this government at all - or SAGE unfortunately.

I feel that if vaccinated it won’t work and I’ll have to keep on getting new jabs every time a new variant comes along.

Without meaning to sound rude:

I really want to believe that the vaccine is effective. But I can’t and don’t
But evidence shows that it is effective

I’ve researched etc
What did your research entail?

Reading, watching, listening.

I don’t know what to believe anymore. So I believe nothing.

@Dustyboots so - just don't. Catch each new variant as it comes along instead. It's not really a problem for anyone but you once those you care for can be protected. Or maybe they'd prefer to be cared for by someone else.

OP it's just part of a pattern, you see the same names coming up over and over again - coronavirus isnt a problem, lockdowns dont work, masks dont help, you can stop me doing cuz, there'll never be a vaccine, I dont want a vaccine, vaccines dont work, it's all a conspiracy, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit. Reality is too much for some people so they create their own.

it's all a conspiracy
The only conspiracy I can see is that the Government seem to want to blame us plebs for their shit show of managing this pandemic.

Haven't rtft, but just reported on the news that 1 in 2 over 80s have antibodies..
So bearing in mind that all over 80s have had their vaccines at least 2 weeks ago, why don't 50% of them have antibodies? I'm confused can anyone explain?

why don't 50% of them have antibodies?
I am confused, 50% is the same as 1 in 2.

@RosieLemonade

Vaccines aren't that scary for most adults unless they are phobic.

I am extremely phobic. I wish I was a fainter but I am a nasty combo of fight and flee. I will consider the vaccine when it is in a form other than injection.