Made the decision not to have the vaccine yet, worried I’ll be treated like a leper

[Daffodilsinthewindow]

I have debilitating health anxiety and it’s ruined many years of my life. I’ve currently got it control and haven’t had a ‘relapse’ for a while. I’m absolutely terrified of the vaccine. I’m 31, so my age group has just been called up. All my friends and family keep asking me if I’ve booked it. I just keep saying “I will do”.

My health anxiety has meant several trips to A&E when I was on the contraceptive pill a few years ago, over fears of a blood clot, so that in turn has meant I haven’t been on it since.

I’m making an informed decision, taking my mental health into account...just like somebody would do if they had a physical health issue.

I’m not saying I’ll never have the vaccine, but I do want to wait a while as I feel it’s too soon for me personally. I’m not an anti vaxxer, I don’t believe in conspiracy theories about Bill Gates or microchips or anything like that. This is just a personal decision I have made about my body.
Pre covid, me making decisions about my body and mind to benefit me and not cause my mental health to spiral out of control, would be supported. Now I know I will get judged, talked at, made to feel small and as though I’m doing the wrong thing, not helping society etc etc.

Just wondering if anyone else is in a similar position?

So if you have health anxiety why don't you seem to be worried about the impact of getting covid and therefore wanting to protect yourself from it?
As you are under 40 you wouldn't be getting AZ so therefore the blood clot risk is a non issue however the risk of clots from covid would be minimal but still higher than from the vaccine?

Your health anxiety has relapsed if you are worrying over a tiny percentage chance of a blood clot.

Your age means you're not getting Astra Zeneca, so it's even more minuscule.

The recommended treatment for anxiety disorders is to face the fear and observe that the worst outcome doesn't happen. What you are doing is letting your health anxiety control your choices and actually put you at risk of physical harm (ironically enough). The anxiety is making you believe that you are protecting yourself by telling you to prioritise your mental health. In actual fact the best thing for both your physical health and your health anxiety is to be vaccinated.

@RachyRoo89
Its not your own life your gambling though is it? I understand the article but it also states how important vaccines can be in the 'fight' against covid. It pretty much agrues against your point. The fact that we might not achieve herd immunity is not a reason not to get the vaccine, it will still halt the spread and lower the risk to vunerable people

Your scenario doesn't make full sense. You are much much more likely than any of your vaccinated friends to have asymptomatic covid. The vaccine doesn't mask your symptoms, and even if it does the chance that you then spread it onto vaccinated friends who also have asymptomatic cases is very low. So yes they are potential scenarios but the chance of scenario b happening is very low, a much more likely scenario would be you having an asymptomatic case as you are unvaccinated.

Its not 100% effective so yes you can potentially still catch covid and if you have covid yes you will pass it on. But the vaccine does limit spread, and it doesn't mask symptoms.

People will blame anti-vaxxers because they come out with a lot of crap that shows a blatant lack of understanding of science and vaccines. And you aren't really helping matters.

RachyRoo89, just to assure you that you are not alone in your views. I broadly share them, although obviously none of us can know the full picture about what is really going on. My starting point, which is still firm in my mind, is that all of this (the lockdowns etc) cannot possibly be all about containing this virus. It just can't. The response of the world's governments has been so astronomically, insanely, bat-shit crazily out of proportion to the actual miniscule scale of the threat, that it just defies belief. 140,000 "deaths" from Covid? Nah, just "within 28 days of a pos test" - utter garbage. But even if the actual, DIRECT Covid deaths were ten times, no, 20 times as high as the official figures, the lockdowns would STILL be off-the-scale of bat-shit crazy overreaction. I'm not buying it.
People's first counter-argument to this assertion is often "but it's not just our government that has locked down - the whole world has done it. Are you implying that all the world's governments are united, or acting as one, as if there's some global force unifying them?" Well, why not? If you look at some of what's been going on politically across the world over the last decade or more, isn't it uncanny how the same political forces are ushering in very similar policies in many ways? The whole transgender thing just to give one example, the way that any anti-globalist, pro-nationalist parties who wish to put their own country first (or "make it great again") are being attacked and derided, their leaders discredited by the media, elections rigged etc? It certainly seems to me that there's some sort of soft, slow political coup afoot internationally, with the aim of slowly morphing into a single world "progressive" government. Whether Covid was natural or man-made we'll probably never know, but I think the folks who meet at G7 probably thought "This is our window of opportunity! Quick, let's start this ball rolling". It's obvious at least, with all their cock-ups and U-turns that the UK government has not been in charge of events at any rate. Incompetency, some might say? Perhaps, or maybe just taking orders?
And the monstrous splash-outs of 'free' cash left right and centre, I can only see this as a deliberate attempt to overinflate the currency, perhaps with the aim of eventually crashing it. Politicians may be mad but they're not stupid, they will be aware of what happens when you 'print' enormous amounts of currency (see Germany, 1920s, or Zimbabwe more recently).
Back in Feb 2020 when I thought "Oh no, we're all going to DIEEEE!" I was as scared as anyone else, but not anymore. Once Covid was revealed as just a rather bad flu virus, not the Black Death #2, the fear left me, and it's never coming back. And what's more, they have overplayed their hand now and it's too late for them to reverse it; I will never trust the mainstream news or the government again. Game over, and I'm not playing any more. Of course, the individual can never completely overcome against huge political forces all by themself, but insofar as I can make a difference, I'm serving notice that I'm done with fear, it shall no longer dominate me. It's "Normal or nothing" for me, as far as I can determine it. Want to come into my house or transact business with me? - Mask OFF. Stand up close. Shake my hand. No shake - no business.

This is just a personal decision I have made about my body

It's not though... it also impacts other people who you could pass Covid onto, and increases the possibility of the virus mutating.

It's selfish.

Having the capacity to decide what goes into your body is a basic human right, all these " selfish" comments are bullshit! Stop trying to guilt trip and shame people! Everybody seem to have forgotten you have a choice!

Just because you've had jab 1 or 2 doesn't mean you don't transmit covid if you catch it. Stop making people feel like living breathing walking covid19

@whymewhyme

Having the capacity to decide what goes into your body is a basic human right, all these " selfish" comments are bullshit! Stop trying to guilt trip and shame people! Everybody seem to have forgotten you have a choice!

Just because you've had jab 1 or 2 doesn't mean you don't transmit covid if you catch it. Stop making people feel like living breathing walking covid19

Yes, of course, everyone has a choice and has the right to do whatever they want regarding the vaccine.

That doesn't mean that the choice OP is making isn't objectively selfish. It is.

We live in a society where we're allowed to make selfish choices. That's great, and I fully support that people should be able to make their own decisions, as OP has, however irrational they are.

It doesn't change the fact that if you make the decision not to have a vaccine that is for the general good of society, you are making a selfish decision.

It's fine for you to make that decision, but it's still selfish, and not in the interests of others.

Some proper conspiracy nut jobs about today. Economic reset... Rise of the Nazis...

It is your decision. You don't need to tell people as to your vaccination status! It is no-ones business bar your own. It is NOT selfish. It is simply your decision. End of.

@nancywhitehead

We live in a society where we're allowed to make selfish choices. That's great, and I fully support that people should be able to make their own decisions, as OP has, however irrational they are.

It doesn't change the fact that if you make the decision not to have a vaccine that is for the general good of society, you are making a selfish decision.

It's fine for you to make that decision, but it's still selfish, and not in the interests of others.

Agree 100% with this.

Also anyone choosing not to have the vaccine has absolutely no right to ever complain about any future lockdowns.

@loulouljh

It is your decision. You don't need to tell people as to your vaccination status! It is no-ones business bar your own. It is NOT selfish. It is simply your decision. End of.

It is her decision AND it is selfish.

And that's ok.

People who don't have the vaccine are making a selfish decision which they are perfectly entitled to make, but they need to own the fact that it is a selfish decision.

Another one here who isn't going to have the vaccination. My lifestyle is fairly insular anyway, I don't work closely with other people, don't have caring duties or school age children and don't have any long term illnesses/disabilities/health risks to make me vulnerable. The chances of contracting Covid are tiny,. The chances of being ill from it are more tiny and the chance of dying miniscule. If I am asymptomatic the chances of me being in close enough contact with anyone to pass it on is tiny. At 52 my body is going through enough changes and I'm working very hard to reduce the amount of rubbish I put in my body - rarely take even paracetamol so certainly don't want any other 'just in case' pharmaceutical stuff going in!

@nancywhitehead

We live in a society where we're allowed to make selfish choices. That's great, and I fully support that people should be able to make their own decisions, as OP has, however irrational they are.

It doesn't change the fact that if you make the decision not to have a vaccine that is for the general good of society, you are making a selfish decision.

It's fine for you to make that decision, but it's still selfish, and not in the interests of others.

Yep, 100% this. Of course it is selfish but the OP knows this anyway.

Then again the OP stated that viruses are natural and take their course so maybe s/he sees it as nature's great leveller. . That quote gives the impression that you see it as fate, OP, which cannot be interfered with a bit like the Elizabethans really

@RachyRoo89

Also anyone choosing not to have the vaccine has absolutely no right to ever complain about any future lockdowns.

So you have elected yourself as the police against complaining now? Wow, Mumsnet dictatorship right there. I won't get the vaccine I will still think lockdown is a crime against humanity, but thanks for telling me I'm not allowed to "complain" about that...

Well if you dont like the look of the vaccine, and you think lockdowns are against humanity, what do you think is the answer?

Or is it that you're perfectly happy for everyone else to get the vaccine in order to prevent any future lockdowns (which you'll benefit from), but you'd just rather not take it for yourself, thanks very much.

If thats not selfish then I dont know what is!

Blimey, all this ranting about "dictatorships" and "crimes against humanity"....talk about histrionics! @RachyRoo89 in the nicest possible way you are really not a good advertisement for anti-vaxxers as balanced and measured individuals . I fear you are fulfilling the stereotype...