So confused and anxious. This virus and rules make no sense

[WineGetsMeThroughIt]

So help me make sense of this - because at the moment it makes no sense to me at all.

The numbers are rapidly increasing yet the government is continuing to remove almost all restrictions despite advice not to by the WHO.

Gov't is encouraging all adults to be vaccinated as it will create a "herd immunity" against the virus.

Gov't now saying you do not have to self isolate after travel or from coming in contact with someone with the virus if you're double jabbed? (I think I've understood that correctly?)

But....getting a double dose of the vaccine still doesn't prevent you from getting covid or getting incredibly ill. But just decreases your risk of dying?

So if you are double vax'd you don't have to isolate (even though you still may have got covid yourself from travelling or contact with another person but you just don't actually know). So technically you could be asymptomatic (or symptomatic for that matter) and pass the virus on to people.

Seems to me that the double vax'd get special privileges like travel, potentially restaurants, etc but can still catch and spread the virus just like an un-vax'd person??

I'm so confused by all of these rules. I have extreme anxiety about getting the vaccination due to so many reported (and many more unreported) side effects. I'm not at all anti-vax. I've had all my previous vaccinations and I've actually made 3 separate appointments to have the covid jab, but have had an anxiety attack before each one and never went.

I'm extremely uncomfortable with the way this vaccine causes period issues, ringing in the ears, extreme fatigue, heart issues, pins and needles in toes and fingers, swollen lymph nodes, covid arm and many more. I don't like the pressure the gov't is putting on us to get it, and feel like it's wrong because the vaccine itself doesn't prevent covid or spreading it. But yes I am terrible worried of actually getting covid myself and worse of all ending up with long covid. It's a constant anxious battle in my mind to get the vaccine and potentially battle with a whole host of side effects or not get it and get covid. Like with the vaccine and covid - I could be fine or I could not be fine.

I hate this world so much right now. I'm finding it so hard to cope with all the uncertainty and flip flopping back and forth.

Sorry to see you are extremely anxious, please seek help for that.
Covid is here to stay, permanently. Everyone will face it at some point in their life, vaccination markedly reduces the chance of it being serious. It is time to open up and get on with living, with people taking personal responsibility rather than dictated by government.
Covid is a risk amongst an infinite number of risks we face every day, try to keep it in perspective.

The basis of your post- that a vaxxed person catches and spreads the virus as easily as an unvaxxed person- is wrong.

Yeah, the rules about not isolating don’t make any sense. They just had to give vaccinated people some kind of ‘reward’ and coerce people who don’t really want or need it into having it. Pretty shitty IMO but some people are all for it.

Viral load is lower in a vaccinated person.

Your chances of both catching it and passing it on are reduced.

I would say that your understanding of the need for the vaccine and for its impact on individuals is very skewed by erroneous opinions and ad hoc experience that are found on social media. These are propagated by people with strong agendas who are not interested in or capable of debate in the main stream. A lot of it cannot be trusted.

There are other sources of information. That comes from trusted sources. Many local authorities working with the NHS provide helplines that will talk you through the risks and benefits. They can also enable you to get an appointment that fits your needs.

I’m confused too BUT have you seen the graphs for hospitalisation and deaths, they’re great! And lockdowns are to protect the NHS so if hospitalisations are low that bodes well.

Yes people who are vaccinated can both catch and transmit the virus, but the risk is greatly reduced.

They never promised that the vaccine would provide immunity for Covid. They never promised that the vaccine would prevent you from catching Covid. They never promised that the vaccine would stop the spread.

The vaccine is helping to prevent serious illness and death.

They never promised that the vaccine was the answer to all our prayers.

I predict this will deteriorate into an antivax thread with the usual nonsense such as " The vaccine does not reduce your chances of spreading Covid" repeated ad nauseum. If you are anxious, don't get it.

@bumbleymummy

Yeah, the rules about not isolating don’t make any sense. They just had to give vaccinated people some kind of ‘reward’ and coerce people who don’t really want or need it into having it. Pretty shitty IMO but some people are all for it.

Or maybe the science shows that fully vaccinated people are less likely to spread it therefore it is safe (god, that word) for them to not be bound by the same restrictions as the unvaccinated?

@MareofBeasttown

I predict this will deteriorate into an antivax thread with the usual nonsense such as " The vaccine does not reduce your chances of spreading Covid" repeated ad nauseum. If you are anxious, don't get it.

agreed! Up to the individual. But they cant then turn around like a dog in the manger and be cross about those savvy enough to have the vaccine living freer lives.

@Scottishgirl85

Sorry to see you are extremely anxious, please seek help for that. Covid is here to stay, permanently. Everyone will face it at some point in their life, vaccination markedly reduces the chance of it being serious. It is time to open up and get on with living, with people taking personal responsibility rather than dictated by government. Covid is a risk amongst an infinite number of risks we face every day, try to keep it in perspective.

This is, in a nutshell, exactly where we are. There’s no other way out. But an awful lot of people haven’t made it to this realisation yet.

I think the gov have spent so long telling us if we stay indoors they’ll get rid of the virus, just a bit longer, just a bit longer. It’s a real shift in mindset to move to living alongside it, and the need for this shift has not really been communicated (except for last Monday’s briefing - but most people won’t have watched this and/or understood the actual message).

@bumbleymummy

Yeah, the rules about not isolating don’t make any sense. They just had to give vaccinated people some kind of ‘reward’ and coerce people who don’t really want or need it into having it. Pretty shitty IMO but some people are all for it.

I disagree.

The whole point of the restrictions was to reduce the burden on the nhs. The vaccines now do that for us so there is no need for vaccinated people to be under restrictions.

The chances of an unvaccinated person picking up covid if they are a close contact are significantly higher than for a fully vaxxed person. Not sure why that is so hard to understand.

It's a confusing and worrying time. I also suffer with health anxiety, and here's what's helped me:

1/ Thinking of coronavirus as some kind of cold. Just a potentially deadly one. It spreads through the air and is highly infectious. If you've had it once, you can catch it again. Unlike with colds, we have a vaccine that prevents serious infection. It won't prevent you from catching Covid, but for most, it turns it from a deadly infection into something that can be managed, for most people, at home.
2/ Getting the vaccine. Yes, that's scary. But if you had all your other jabs okay, why worry about this one? Of course there's a chance you could have an unlucky reaction, but you almost certainly won't, and then you can relax.
3/ Volunteer at a vaccination centre. You'll see thousands of people trecking in and out all day every day and you'll realise that they all survive. For me, this is a bit like looking at a flight radar app in non-covid times. I would still anxious about getting on my own particular flight, but seeing how many other thousands of planes taking off and landing safely every day put it into perspective for me.

@siestalady yeah ‘less likely’ - so still able to contract and spread it.

And it’s also ridiculous that unvaccinated under 18s don’t have to quarantine but an unvaccinated 19 yr old does.

The reason I am being so snippy is that there have been so many threads like this which begin with anxiety and mistruths and end with "Actually I am being really selfless in not taking the vaccine." I think the vaccine and its benefits have been thoroughly discussed. I don't believe that posters repeating erroneous infornation are being sincere, but if you are, don't take it.

@Lucidas

Viral load is lower in a vaccinated person.

Your chances of both catching it and passing it on are reduced.

This.

At some point you will encounter a viral hit of whichever variant of covid-19 is around at the time. It isn't avoidable, because this virus is now endemic. If you get vaccinated, then the severity of illness that you get will be reduced to nothing or milder symptoms. For some people, that can still mean they require medical support but have a lower risk of dying, while for others that will reduce the illness to just being unpleasant, and the lucky majority won't even get symptoms.

The risks of illness and long-term health issues from the virus exceed those of the vaccine; that's the case for every licensed vaccine unless you have an anaphylactic reaction to the ingredients, vaccines aren't given a license in the UK if they don't reach that criteria.

It's still your choice to have it though, and if you're anxious then that decision might be particularly hard. What I suggest is to go along to a walk-in vaccine centre and just talk to them. Plan that you won't get jabbed that day, just go for the information about the risks, the process and how they can support you with your anxiety when you're there. After that make a choice, go again or do not, but hopefully you'll be at a point where you can feel comfortable with your choice instead of letting the choice itself make you anxious.

Covid is here to stay now. Permanently. As Boris said: “it’s now or never”. We can’t stay locked down forever, life has to find a way to continue.
So we get vaccinated and we carry on sensibly. People get back to work and the economy recovers. Children pick up on lost education.
We have to.
We need to.

Please don’t stay on this place of fear. Please get help for your anxiety.

I could just as easily write opposite conclusions to everything OP said as thread title:

Why is govt keeping all these unsustainable and economically devastating restrictions, virus controls, travel restrictions and isolation requirements when everyone has had chance to get vaccine & vaccinated people suffer so little harm from infection; why is it still govt job to protect people who refuse to get jab?

Why is it govt job to comfort people who can't handle uncertainty -- life was always full of uncertainty. Did you only just notice?

"The People" voted for Brexit to "Take back control" - so then why are people so keen for WHO to be deferred to, or that UK govt keep such firm (pretence of) mega-control, micro-managing everyone's lives?

Makes no sense to me at all

@Lucidas

Viral load is lower in a vaccinated person.

Your chances of both catching it and passing it on are reduced.

That.

The vaccine successfully reduces the risks of serious illness from Covid. It also reduces how contagious it is as a vaccinated immune system puts up a faster, better response than an unexposed immune system.

The vaccine is not without a chance of side effects, but these are broadly the same as the risks of being ill in range, and smaller in probility.

As much as I loathe the direction of political bullying and discrimination going on in Europe (and have little faith in the creep tactics of this government) in terms of access to services, in terms of isolation, the current contact policies are far more damaging to society and business than the illness itself for the majority of people and therefore there is less damage by easing the isolation policies for people who are of medically reduced risk of transmission and more severe consequences.

[quote bumbleymummy]@siestalady yeah ‘less likely’ - so still able to contract and spread it.

And it’s also ridiculous that unvaccinated under 18s don’t have to quarantine but an unvaccinated 19 yr old does. [/quote]
Less likely means exactly that - less likely. So a small number of people still will, but most won't. We always knew it wasn't 100%, why do people then act surprised when its not 100%?!

And its not really ridiculous. There has to be a cut off somewhere. Under 18s are not being offered the vaccine. An unvaccinated 19 yr old is, in the majority of cases, unvaccinated through choice (and yes, I know, they won't all have a chance to have their second vaccine by then - but the majority of 18 year olds I know are getting their second one in early September, so not a huge gap from when the rules change).

Long enough that they’re missing out on having to travel this summer after sacrificing so much this year. The virus really doesn’t care if someone is unvaccinated by choice or not.

And what is ‘a small number’ in your opinion? There are thousands of cases being reported in vaccinated people. Any one of those can pass it on to others. They really shouldn’t be getting special treatment if the intention was to prevent spread. It seems more about ‘punishing’ and coercing the unvaccinated tbh.

@Scottishgirl85

Sorry to see you are extremely anxious, please seek help for that. Covid is here to stay, permanently. Everyone will face it at some point in their life, vaccination markedly reduces the chance of it being serious. It is time to open up and get on with living, with people taking personal responsibility rather than dictated by government. Covid is a risk amongst an infinite number of risks we face every day, try to keep it in perspective.

What a biased answer.

@SonnetForSpring how is it biased?

Some of the rules confuse me too. As others have said, being vaxed decreases risk of spread and severity of illness. However, some of the proposed rules for vaxed vs unvaxed don't make sense, especially when cases are as high as they are now. I also think there is a sense of "reward" for vaxed that doesn't make total sense at this time e.g. 'covid passes' where have to either show negative test OR be double vaxed. Totally bonkers - risk of spreading is reduced, but there's still a significant chance of spreading it. I'm double vaxed, but I weighed the decisions up for me and my family, not for the greater good if I'm honest. I think what a PP said about coming to terms with your decision OP - whatever you eventually decide is good advice.