I have to have the vaccine or I loose my job

[wingingmumlife]

I am absolutely prepared to get flamed for this but I am really worrying.

I am 22 year years old, healthy and unvaccinated (by choice).

I am not anti-vax, I have had every single vaccine from being a child to now and my daughter is up to date with all of hers too.

I work in dentistry and myself and 4 other colleagues have been told we have to be fully vaccinated by April 2022 otherwise, we lose our jobs.

I just can't believe it has come to this. I feel like my human rights have been taken away. I'm not a conspiracy theorist and I am a big believer in science but as a genuine question ... Can someone please tell me why this vaccine is being pushed so much to the point where soon we probably won't be able to even go into a restaurant without having this vaccine?

I have to wear AGP PPE every single day for every single patient but this still isn't enough?

I test myself every single day, but this still isn't enough?

Can someone please help it make sense to me? That is a genuine question.

Im not looking for an argument and I'm not wanting anyone to tell me "how stupid I am" I just want this to make sense.

For anyone wondering why I haven't had the vaccine - the main reason being, I have severe health anxiety, ironic I know since most would think I'd jump for the vaccine, but at the moment I'm more scared of this vaccine then I am of catching Covid itself.

I just feel sick to my stomach at the thought of not having a job unless I have this vaccine, it really doesn't sit well with me but everyone on here seems to be supporting it?

How many people are you breathing over each day as a dentist - people who have no choice to come to you for care and are not going to able to make an informed decision (as presumably you don't tell them you are unvaccinated)? People who are potentially vulnerable.

I completely agree with the vaccination of all NHS staff and have no sympathy. To be honest you have no business working in healthcare if you are not willing to have a potentially life-saving vaccination in a pandemic.

I wish more people on this thread understood health anxiety

I do. But honestly, in your position, I don't have sympathy because of the number of vulnerable people you are exposed to on a daily basis.

If you are so anxious then you should be in a different profession.

[quote wingingmumlife]@ChildrenGrowingUpTooFast no one is forcing me to have the vaccine?

Tell me then, when is this going to end? I take it you've had both vaccines? I'm sure it was on the news the other day that those who have had both vaccines will be classed as unvaccinated until they've had their booster jab? Then what? That expires so you have to have another, then another, then another... You get my point.

You say no one is forcing me to have the vaccine but I already can't go to certain places unless I've had it. Look at Dublin, Ireland, you can't do anything over there unless you've had both vaccines. Want to visit a restaurant? Have to have had both vaccines. Want to visit a cinema? Have to have had both vaccines? Want to go into a supermarket? Have to have had both vaccines. That will happen here, then try and tell me no one is forcing me to have the vaccine. Come off it, seriously.

I have worked all through the pandemic from the very start, through the peak, with no vaccine and now I'm being told I will loose my job and have to choose between putting food on the table for me and my daughter or I can have the vaccine and this will all go away, except it won't. I'm pretty sure you would have been happy to have received medical care by someone unvaccinated last year right? But any how, you've had your vaccine, if you trust it so much then why you so bothered if I've had it or not? It protects you right? I'm putting myself at risk by choosing not to have the vaccine. I've chose not to have the vaccine due to my health anxiety. That's my choice. It should be MY choice.

For a virus with a high survival rate (especially for people my age) we should be able to make that choice wether or not we want to have it. [/quote]
I know you didn't want people to tell you how stupid you are. But you really, really are.

I'm astounded at this coming from someone working in healthcare and I hope there are not many in the NHS with these views.

My friend had her second dose and hasn't been able to walk since. None of the doctors want to seem to help her at all. So things can go wrong and do I believe people should be given the choice.

My MW keeps pushing it down my throat to have the second dose but obviously this has put me off.

Just get the bloody vaccine. The people coming to the dentistry practice should be able to trust that they are safe there. If you don’t accept the necessity of having a vaccine then you’re free to seek another job.

I am so, so fed up of people who can be vaccinated and refuse to be.

[quote wingingmumlife]@ChardonnaysPetDragon health anxiety works in mysterious ways, I wish I knew the answer to that one. [/quote]
You are a contradiction. It is not health anxiety, you just don't want to be told what to do... says it in your first post

Just have the vaccine and accept that you are in a patient facing role and it is now part of that.

I work in the nhs, double vaccinated and recently had booster - all by choice. I also suffer with anxiety and was very worried about having the vaccine but decided on balance it was worth it. I contracted COVID at work, also in full PPE, whilst double vaccinated. Once I got the positive test result my anxiety skyrocketed and I was waiting for the onset of the various awful symptoms I had read about. Thanks to the vaccine I had a mild scratchy throat and stuffy nose for a few days and that was all, but I believe things could have been much worse if I wasn’t vaccinated. I also didn’t pass it on to anyone. Just sharing my personal experience in the hope it reassures you, but I do feel conflicted about forcing staff to have the vaccine to keep their jobs. I fear we are going to lose some very valuable staff in health and care.

@RhubarbCustardy

It's over in a second and could save not only your life but others too.

True but the op has already said she’d be more anxious after having the vaccine which would cause her more problems.

@notsosensitive

My friend had her second dose and hasn't been able to walk since. None of the doctors want to seem to help her at all. So things can go wrong and do I believe people should be given the choice.

My MW keeps pushing it down my throat to have the second dose but obviously this has put me off.

Presuming MW means midwife, did you catch this in the news recently?

www.nottinghampost.com/news/uk-world-news/baby-born-14-weeks-early-6192040?fbclid=IwAR29er-8YvK3UDEU1J532is3a_yRziIMX28r3giLQgkFu3_PMqN-WmqE5g0

@fournonblondes

I have sympathy OP. What we are living is dreadful. Now that there are more facts about the vaccine and the virus it makes less sense to try to coerce this way. I personally believe that this is going to be stopped but I know how worry you must be.

Btw I had my two vaccines but will not have the booster.

The more I read mumsnet the more I realise the world has gone mad.

Why no booster if you have had two jabs? Just get your booster

When I worked in dentistry I had to have vaccines such as hep b

I get it. You will have to isolate if you're a contact if you are unvaccinated. You are bound to be off more than you are in when you see so many people at close contact without a mask on

Sorry but I see why

I would have thought a dental surgery where many germy children go, regardless of COVID, is the last place where someone with extreme health anxiety would want to work

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

With respect, that’s absolute crap. There’s endless information saying exactly how they help without saying they’re perfect. I see scientists patiently correcting misinformation over and over. If you’re not seeing it then you don’t want to.

Oh, the info is there if you look/ask for it - but all the soundbites I see (and you may well disagree) only ever seem to proclaim the positives and make it sound like a magic elixir.

All financial investment products that now legally have to carry the warning small-print ('your home is at risk', 'investments can go down as well as up' etc.) will have supporting literature available for everybody to see the big picture - but enough people must not have thought it necessary (or realised that it wasn't quite that foolproof) for that legislation to have been considered necessary in the first place.

I wonder how many people out there have simply taken on board the basic overriding 'be safe - get the vaccine' message and now believe themselves to be much better protected than they actually can be.

So many people I know are surprised that they can still get covid with the vaccine.

We have over 900 cases here (of a population of 100000 people). Our gov give stats daily on cases and whether they’re vaccinated or not. The majority of those

The shock. I knew when having it (purely so I could travel). I wanted to wait a bit longer like the op but we were hopeful we could go to New Zealand to see family in January (not happening now) and vaccination was required.

I just don’t understand OP, you’re up to date with all of your other vaccines but have developed a fear of this one. Why? You mention being afraid of catching Covid, aren’t you worried that your body will react in a poor way having not had the vaccine? I caught Covid after both jabs and the effect on my breathing was really frightening, scary to think how it would have been if I’d not had the vaccine. Obviously no one can force you to have the vaccine but I suppose you have to ask yourself if it’s really worth losing your job over.

@GreenLunchBox

I think it will come out that someone or someone's in the government are getting paid per vaccine given. Otherwise it doesn't make sense. There's huge money to be made. So they're jabbing people when there's no clinical need

I have considered this too. It doesn't make sense. I remember reading an article last year about who was actually an investor in the Pharma companies and there were some well known names - some with in the government. I am going to try and find the article today.

I won't be getting my booster because access is so bad to get it, I would suggest that OP probably gets a job in a different sector as she is young and there are a lot of jobs at the moment. We do have to make these decisions sometimes, I decided to leave my job because I couldn't stand wfh

At the moment you do have a choice. Who knows what will happen next. What would you do if the gov adopted the same measures as Austria have taken. You would be in permanent lockdown.

I’m a dentist. I wouldn’t want to work with an unvaccinated nurse, partly because you will have to self isolate if a contact. If your app pings or a friend you saw for a chat gets Covid- 10 days off work. Staffing nightmare.
Also although you can catch it still, it is less likely and you are less likely to pass it on.

This isn’t up to your employer who will be the practice owner, it’s come from the NHS. Even private practices have to follow the same rules or questions are asked. A union would not help.

I don’t know how you worked throughout- we were closed April to June 2020. Telephone triage?

I have anxiety too but you need to conquer your anxiety this time to get the jab. Just as we encourage patients to conquer their dental anxiety to get necessary treatment. Think how great they feel when they are terrified but get that awful tooth out anyway. You will feel the same- so happy to have conquered your fears to keep your job.

It’s disgraceful. Not matter how pro vacation you are, no one should be forced to have a procedure that they don’t consent to. Even more baffling is that this vaccine doesn’t appear to actually stop the virus circulating very well at all, but clear is effective at preventing severe disease which is what it was supposed to do. I can’t fathom why we need to force people who don’t want it to have it. I think it’s a silly choice on their part, but it should still be their choice to make.

I understand your feeling OP however I fee that its people civic responsibility to get vaccinated. There are a number of reason for this:

1. If enough people don’t take the vaccine, then many many more people will be getting seriously ill and hospitalised with covid - leading to a never ending cycle of lockdowns and more restrictions. If say 50% of people felt the way you do about getting the vaccine, we would still be in lockdown with thousands upon thousands more deaths.

B) young people are still seriously ill with this disease. Yes, vaccination doesnt stop you getting it or spreading if (although it reduces the liklihood) but as a proportion - it is still a majority of unvaccinated filling hospital beds.

3. PPE isn’t forever. I understand what you say about wearing PPE so protect your patients this way, however there has to be a route out of masks and PPE at some point

My view is that this has to be a collective approach. The needs of the community are more important than the needs of the individual and we all need to do our bit.

You talk about being scared of the vaccine. Everyday we put stuff in our body that can harm us. Think alcohol, think cigarettes, think other drugs, think junk food etc. At one point, anyone of these could be a tipping point to our body reacting in a way that causes liver failure or cancer etc. Yes there is a risk that the vaccine can have side effects, but having seen people suffer with covid (and long covid) the risk of the actual disease having a negative impact on your body far outweighs the risk assocaited with the vaccine

No one is being forced to have it, they have a choice.

YABVVU without most people taking the vaccine we would have been in and out of lockdown for many years to come and all the damage that causes ie economy, mental health issues education to name a few.
Explain to us why you are so special you get to be a 'freerider'. If you arent part of the solution you are part of the problem

Do you enjoy your job in general?

COVID aside, I’m not sure someone with such major health anxiety is suited to work in your type of role.
I personally would take some time doing a different job whilst you get your issues sorted out and it will also give you some time to think about whether you want the vaccination or not.

I know a few people with health anxiety and it is debilitating.
But they’re either anti-vaxx and anti-medicine or they were the first ones in the queue for the vaccination and are at the doctors for any small reason.
But yours is worse because you’re a bit of both.

Its a global pandemic, we all have to do our bit by having the vaccine. If everyone had your attitude we’d still either be in Lockdown or we’d have hundreds of thousand, if not millions more deaths in the world.

I’m in two minds as I don’t think a medical procedure should be forced on people, but I also think that people who work in healthcare should have it to protect their patients. I would like to think that those people would have the mindset that they’ll have it to protect their patients so it wouldn’t have been an issue but of course not everyone is the same. So I’m torn.

I do know though that I wouldn’t see a dentist or doctor that hasn’t been vaccinated if I were to be given a choice.