When your hairdresser/beauty therapist/osteopath refuses the vaccine ...

[Roasegarden21A]

Firstly, I just want to say I don't believe in pushing people into having vaccines. It has to be a willing choice. I do personally believe in the effectiveness of the vaccination project and I want to be safe and I want my family to be safe. What would you do if a long standing therapist that comes into very close physical contact with you (and many others) is an anti vaxxer? I'm talking about people that are outstanding at their jobs. Would you keep going to see them?

If they’re in frequent close contact with people, then they’re at more risk of catching Covid. Being unvaccinated makes them more likely to catch and transmit it. I’d find another therapist, there are plenty.

How would you know unless they chose to tell you?

The only thing that would put me off is if they were rabidly anti-vaxx who tend to be tedious types anyway, but that would be unlikely to be news. If they keep their personal opinions to themselves, that's their business not mine.

My sports massage therapist did mention it of her own accord as she had another job that was high priority.

I have enough trust in the vaccine working in my body to not fret about other people. The world never was a binary of "safe/ not safe".

I agree @BogRollBOGOF but I'd include that I don't want a passionate lecture on anything when I'm having my haircut or a massage or anything really unless that's what I signed up for. Putting the world to rights is for the pub!

I wouldn't dream of asking anyone whether or not they had been vaccinated.... I work in retail, I volunteer with vulnerable people (many of whom lead chaotic lives and are unlikely to have been vaccinated) - I have no idea who has or hasn't been vaccinated & I don't ask anyone.

@Lostinacloud

Yes and for many reasons.

1. Contrary to what we’ve been led to believe, not every single human that walks the planet has covid all day every day of the year.
2. If you have the virus enough to cause you to be actually ill then you won’t feel like being at work and will most likely be at home getting better. (I’ve had mild covid and certainly didn’t feel like going out or meeting anyone once the symptoms started).
3. If you are worried about how you will personally respond to catching covid and so you’ve had the vaccine yourself, surely you’re protected and so don’t need to worry about catching it if your ‘outstanding at their job’ person just happens to have covid and not know it yet.
4. At some point people need to accept that sars-cov2 will be here forever and get on with their lives.
5. Most of us are more at risk of a million other potentially life threatening events and don’t let that stop us from living a normal life.
6. If you put yourself in your own shoes 2 years ago, would you have questioned getting a service from someone who is outstanding at their job because they hadn’t had the mmr or tetanus or polio vaccine?
7. It wouldn’t even occur to me to ask the vaccine status of anybody and if they happened to be vocal about it then I would either agree or agree to disagree and then be a grown up about things and not let that sort of irrelevant issue get in the way of my normal life and social interactions.

People NEED to let go of this fear!

So much absolute shit in this post I can’t be bothered to address it all. But if number 2 was correct then Covid would have the same R number as Ebola

I wouldn’t because I wouldn’t have asked the question to find out and don’t wish to bored at by someone who thinks it’s appropriate to start volunteering personal information without being asked.

@SoSadAboutMyDad think what you like, glad you can’t be bothered to reply because neither can I. I’m entitled to my opinion and can’t see that it hurts you so sod off quite frankly

At present there are a lot of unvaccinated people providing these sort of services, because they're young. If I'm not bothered about having my hair cut now by an unvaccinated hairdresser, why should I worry about it in future? I'd not ask anyone directly, as I'd find it a bit intrusive and rude...

Would you keep going to see them?

Yes and I wouldn't ask them anyway. However if they started spouting anti vaxx crap then no.

No I wouldn't see them. I have asked therapists/hairdressers if they've been vaccinated and not seen them if they havent.

To those who ask of course I wouldn't have asked if they'd have had an Mmr or a vaccine. Problem is if they got il from those I wouldn't have to self isolate from my self employed business for 10 days or my kids miss school.

I wouldn't knowingly give business to an anti-vaxer.

I would go to someone else.

It wouldn't bother me if someone was had not had the vaccine. I would probably avoid if they were talking a lot of anti vax stuff because that is a different thing. Also irritating.

My friend is highly vulnerable so she would definitely avoid close contact with anyone she knows is not vaccinated. That is obviously a reasonable decision. Maybe certain professions should have vaccinated certificates or badges. So vulnerable people will know who to use.

I guess all of you only use hairdressers/therapists/checkout workers who are over 30? As the rest of us aren't even allowed it yet.

If you do interact with anyone younger than 30 then it doesn't matter if someone's had the vaccine or not. Because it doesn't bother you now. Why would it bother you next month/year?

It wouldn't worry me but it does worry me that there will be a two tier, divided society, the 'clean' and the 'unclean'.

I would definitely still see them. Unless they spent the entire appointment going on about it. I don't care what someone else's vaccination views are when I'm getting my hair cut, but I don't want to be bored to tears either.

I also think that only interacting with / using services of / reading books by (etc) people who agree with you is far more closed minded than any science-denying anti-vaxxer.

I really couldn't give a shit. I doubt greatly that the hairdresser I saw last week was vaccinated, she looked younger than me and I'm only 30. As yet, I'm unvaccinated (age not anti vax), I don't see why it would start to trouble me next month.

Generally the service providers I use talk about the weather, their last/next holiday and how I should really get my eyebrows/hair/legs done more often, so I doubt I'd know anyway.

I would think they were a bit of an idiot but if she’s a good hairdresser I’d still see her. I would be baffled if an educated medical practitioner was a refuser, like I am when seemingly educated people believe the earth is flat. I wouldn’t trust them to carry out any kind of medical procedure.

Unless the person actively announced that they are refusing vaccine, you wouldn't know normally, would you?
And I think if I use them after knowing is up to my circumstances then. If I think myself as vulnerable, I may not use them.

@murbblurb

Mmr, polio etc are dumbfuck analogies as transmission mechanisms are different.

Anti vaxxers wouldn't get my business. Let the stupid starve in a ditch.

Cannot be vaccinated is different, for the MN hard if thinking.

You don’t seem to know the difference between ‘anti-vaxx’ and deciding not to get one particular vaccine. Are people who don’t get the flu vaccine because they’re low risk ‘anti-vaxx’ as well?

You seem to like this ‘hard of thinking’ expression but, from what I’ve read of your posts, you seem to lack some basic reasoning skills yourself.

I wouldnt ask but if they told me I would probably switch just because I don't want to give money to selfish people and it would cast their intelligence into doubt

bumbleymummy, I think comparing covid vaccine to flu vaccine is a bit unfair, since it's a hit and miss anyway, and it's not causing pandemic in the world. But covid vaccine was made to bring end to this pandemic, so refusing it has a totally different effect to the society and community.

@roguetomato

bumbleymummy, I think comparing covid vaccine to flu vaccine is a bit unfair, since it's a hit and miss anyway, and it's not causing pandemic in the world. But covid vaccine was made to bring end to this pandemic, so refusing it has a totally different effect to the society and community.

That’s not the point though. Deciding against one particular vaccine because you are at low risk from the disease does not make someone ‘anti-vaxx’. The term is just being thrown around these days to try to ‘other’ people who have made different decisions, discredit their opinion and make them out to be conspiracy theorists against all vaccines - which you’ll find is not the case for the majority.

The vaccine is going a great job at protecting the most vulnerable from becoming seriously ill and dying. The figures for hospitalisations and deaths are incredibly low now, even without having fully vaccinated the top 9 most at risk groups. The idea that we have to vaccinate everyone, even low risk people, to end the pandemic is simply not true. Infection also confers immunity so low risk people who have recovered from the disease, without putting strain on the NHS, are also contributing to herd immunity.

bumbleymummy, but the whole point of vaccine is not for an individual person's gain, but for the society. So, "I don't need to take it because I'm low risk" is a selfish way to see it, imo.
End I don't think anyone needs to take vaccine if they don't want to, but wish they own it and realise that people may see such people in different light.