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Original poster

Unvaccinated I'm really starting to have an issue with

151 replies

antipa · 16/11/2021 21:31

I don't care if you don't get the vaccine. I'd rather people I love and care about did as I genuinely believe it protects people - but if you don't I think it's everyone's right to refuse it if they choose.

What I'm really, really struggling with is unvaccinated not understanding there's a consequence to it.

So, at my place of work unvaccinated will go with reduced payment and people are complaining about it. It's driving me nuts - how do unvaccinated expect to isolate due to being in contact with someone who tests positive and not have a consequence? Why should a workplace shoulder the cost of an unvaccinated persons poor decision making?

How do unvaccinated think Covid will ever end if no one gets the vaccine?

What if none of us got the vaccine, what do unvaccinated think would happen, or do you not care?

AIBU to think fair enough if you refuse the vaccine, but you should accept there is a consequence to your choice so that we all get a decent healthcare system? (Hopefully)

OP posts:
Kikkomam · 16/11/2021 22:34

By the way. As of right now, unless you've now had your THIRD booster jab, you're also classed as unvaccinated

By whom?

KurtWilde · 16/11/2021 22:36

I can't get past the fact you're using the word 'unvaccinated' like it's some dirty subset of human being.

Teaandtonic · 16/11/2021 22:38

Absolutely agree OP, it really frustrates me that at my work (a high transmission environment where wfh is not possible) there are staff who have chosen not to be vaccinated explicitly through choice, no medical issues.

The impact of this, is that every time they are considered a close contact, they take 10 days off. Putting increased pressure and strain on everyone else and being paid for the privilege.

If you choose not to have the vaccine then why should you be paid for not working. Ridiculous.

Tumbleweed101 · 16/11/2021 22:38

Think our policy is unpaid leave if isolating due to contact with a case because you're not vaccinated and SSP if you actually have Covid. Those who aren't able to have the vaccine due to medical reasons are looked at individually. People can claim the £500 from government if eligible. This was mainly due to the isolation and furlough rules changing meaning small businesses are less able to pay those off isolating and paying someone else to cover them.

XenoBitch · 16/11/2021 22:40

@Teaandtonic

Absolutely agree OP, it really frustrates me that at my work (a high transmission environment where wfh is not possible) there are staff who have chosen not to be vaccinated explicitly through choice, no medical issues.

The impact of this, is that every time they are considered a close contact, they take 10 days off. Putting increased pressure and strain on everyone else and being paid for the privilege.

If you choose not to have the vaccine then why should you be paid for not working. Ridiculous.

It is the rules that says they have to self isolate. They are not choosing to do so. And in any case, they are not allowed to leave home either. That is not something most people would agree to. For all you know, they could be living in a grotty bedsit, or with an abusive partner. Stuck with it in both cases. But yeah, they deserve that for being unvaccinated.
Kikkomam · 16/11/2021 22:42

Dd works in a boarding school and had to take two days off with exhaustion this week as the unvaccinated staff kept having to take 10 days off and she's had to do their jobs as well as hers and miss loads of her days and weekends off. Pisses me off, hopefully the school will start organising cover for the ones who can't be arsed to get vaccinated.

Original poster
antipa · 16/11/2021 22:46

@Kikkomam

Dd works in a boarding school and had to take two days off with exhaustion this week as the unvaccinated staff kept having to take 10 days off and she's had to do their jobs as well as hers and miss loads of her days and weekends off. Pisses me off, hopefully the school will start organising cover for the ones who can't be arsed to get vaccinated.
Exactly this. But unvaccinated people don't seem to care 🤷‍♀️
OP posts:
Teaandtonic · 16/11/2021 22:47

If you choose to be unvaccinated and have challenging home circumstances then that is part of your risk assessment when choosing to be vaccinated or not. I don't have a problem with people choosing to be unvaccinated if they are willing to accept that a consequence to being unvaccinated is that no, you won't be paid your full wage for sitting and watching netflix all day.

Do you know how easy it is to forge those close contact texts and positive lateral flow texts?!

When you have people in your work taking the absolute piss and then choosing not to be vaccinated so they don't have to turn up to work then it makes it very hard to empathise.

Chloemol · 16/11/2021 22:47

@Happyinheels

Covid is not going to go away because of the vaccine. Covid is here and we have to learn to live with it.
Correct, but by having the vaccine it hopefully means less transmission, and less severity if you do get it, hopefully meaning you won’t need hospitalisation and letting the NHS start to work on all those very long lists of heart patients, cancer patients etc etc who cant get treatment as where there are now even longer waiting lists

Not being vaccinated doesn’t just impact people catching covid, it’s everything else that’s impacted

So by all means dont get vaccinated, but don’t moan when you can’t get treatment for something non covid as hospitals are still dealing with severe covid cases

XenoBitch · 16/11/2021 22:49

Exactly this. But unvaccinated people don't seem to care

You know every unvaccinated person to know that?

Kikkomam · 16/11/2021 22:53

At least one at dds work doesnt give a shit and enjoys the time off. Told her it was her fault for making sure she was double vaxxed.

Ugzbugz · 16/11/2021 23:00

App testing and isolation ends next April, sadly people will die of it as they will car crashes etc.

These conspiracy theories need to end though and stop winding people up.

BridgetGetTheGin · 16/11/2021 23:02

It's a personal choice. Respect it.

I don't get upset when Sally and Tara go for a cigarette break every hour or so and spend 10 mins chatting outside. If they're doing their job and completing the task, who cares. It's none of your business.

PurpleOkapi · 16/11/2021 23:02

AIBU to think fair enough if you refuse the vaccine, but you should accept there is a consequence to your choice so that we all get a decent healthcare system? (Hopefully)

Yes, because if you want people to face "consequences" for refusing unwanted medical treatments, then at the very least need a better reason than "that will allow the NHS to provide more services for less money." If you want a better healthcare system, the appropriate way to get there is to vote for higher taxes to pay for one, not penalize people for personal choices that might hypothetically result in them needing medical treatment.

frantic17 · 16/11/2021 23:02

I own a small business with three employees, one who has chosen not to take the vaccine and two fully vaccinated. There is no way I am paying full pay for periods of isolation due to someone not taking the vaccine. It is inconvenient enough (and unfair on their coworkers imo) that everyone else has to take on extra work when they are absent to pick up the slack. I respect that its personal choice but as previous posters have mentioned there are consequences to that choice.

Kikkomam · 16/11/2021 23:05

@BridgetGetTheGin

It's a personal choice. Respect it.

I don't get upset when Sally and Tara go for a cigarette break every hour or so and spend 10 mins chatting outside. If they're doing their job and completing the task, who cares. It's none of your business.

Well they aren't doing their job if they've had 30 days off are they (as one bloke working in dds school has)
TokenGinger · 16/11/2021 23:06

I think the issue is that it feels a little like blackmail to say you must have this substance put into your body, or you will face a financial loss.

I say this as somebody who has had both vaccines. I'm not against people having vaccines but I am against it being forced upon people who do not want it.

Covid is still spreading amongst vaccinated people. I don't see why we don't have to isolate, either.

I think we are as far down the line as we will be with people taking up the offer of a vaccine and I think isolation rules should be dropped for the unvaccinated, given we're all capable of spreading it. The vaccine doesn't stop that. It just reduces severity of symptoms. If people want to take the risk of suffering more seriously having not had the vaccine, then so be it, I suppose.

PurpleOkapi · 16/11/2021 23:06

@Kikkomam

Dd works in a boarding school and had to take two days off with exhaustion this week as the unvaccinated staff kept having to take 10 days off and she's had to do their jobs as well as hers and miss loads of her days and weekends off. Pisses me off, hopefully the school will start organising cover for the ones who can't be arsed to get vaccinated.
Most unvaccinated people don't take it as a given that this sort of quarantine should be mandatory. Many are strongly opposed to it. Getting rid of it (which appears to be the long-term plan anyway) would be a cheap way of solving this problem. If others prefer to solve it in an expensive way, that's their prerogative, but I don't think it's unfair to shrug and say "Let them figure out how to pay for it, then."
Kikkomam · 16/11/2021 23:07

I say this as somebody who has had both vaccines. I'm not against people having vaccines but I am against it being forced upon people who do not want it

But you'd encourage people to have it though?

Kikkomam · 16/11/2021 23:08

But it is mandatory. I don't think dd cares if they are philosophically opposed to 10 days isolation at this point, she's just sick of having to cover for them.

Potatolatkes · 16/11/2021 23:10

@BridgetGetTheGin

It's a personal choice. Respect it.

I don't get upset when Sally and Tara go for a cigarette break every hour or so and spend 10 mins chatting outside. If they're doing their job and completing the task, who cares. It's none of your business.

That’s quite different to 10 days off leaving vaccinated colleagues picking up the slack whilst you stay at home perfectly well catching up on your decorating or whatever. That completely takes the piss.
Kikkomam · 16/11/2021 23:13

The most mad story was the bloke working in my friends garage business who took two lots of self isolation. Turned out he was vaccinated but said he wasn't so he could get time off.

SeasonFinale · 16/11/2021 23:13

It is obvious that OP means that if the unvaccinated have to isolate they are not available to work and will therefore have unpaid leave to enable them to isolate. That is the consequence, as the OP stated, of their choice.

If they don't want this to happen they can make other choices. If there is a genuine reason why they cannot be vaccinated no doubt they will disclose this to their employer who will probably make other arrangements for them.

PurpleOkapi · 16/11/2021 23:16

@Kikkomam

But it is mandatory. I don't think dd cares if they are philosophically opposed to 10 days isolation at this point, she's just sick of having to cover for them.
But they aren't the ones who made it mandatory. They're the ones who are actually at fault for any inconvenience it causes. If she's angry at anyone over that, it should be the ones who set the policy, not the ones with no say over any of it, who probably wish it was different.
BoredZelda · 16/11/2021 23:18

The vaccine that doesn't actually work? That vaccine?

I don’t know what vaccine you’re talking about but the Covid vaccine is reducing reducing serious illness in people who may otherwise have needed extended hospital treatment and had reduced the number of deaths despite a massive increase in cases. Which is what it was developed to do.

Isn't the point that you only have to isolate if not vaccinated?

Yes, in the melee to spout misinformation about the vaccine so people can justify their choices, this singular point has been missed.

And I agree. Why should companies repeatedly pay people to stay at home and not work, simply because they choose to refuse a vaccine?