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?

@User3443525643

OP I have to be brutally honest with you. My husband is a dentist and is in the process of letting two dental nurses go who refuse to get vaccinated. All his colleagues are dealing with similar issues but are more relieved that it's official as they have legal basis rather than being a grey zone. No dentist wants to fire staff and have to restructure their team. However Covid is a once in a century disaster that is bigger than any individual person or business. There are too many risks that come with unvaccinated staff. Vaccinated staff and doctors wearing PPE is basically a 0% transmission chain which is crucial for the entire medical field post-covid. Unvaccinated staff with PPE will always have a slightly higher absolute risk. Sending unvaccinated staff for regular PCR testing reduces that risk but is costly and time-consuming and logistically difficult for a small team.

In your particular case, your problem is health anxiety and not the compulsory vaccine. I have emetophobia and there are situations where I feel absolutely triggered by certain things (eg lack of hygiene in food preparation, places which may involve people being sick) but I am also aware that the problem is entirely my own. There are certain jobs I cannot do because of my phobia (eg nurse, flight attendant, working with small children) and I am willing to take responsibility that it's my own fault due to MH issues. So regarding your original post, you have to understand that it's NOT about you. The bigger picture is much more complex and serious than one dental nurse with a phobia of the vaccine. Covid is a disaster of epic proportions. We have friends who work in hospitals and they have had to witness countless people suffocate to death. Young doctors have to live with the fact that they may be indirectly responsible for killing people due to lack of resources, training and supervision. There are tens of thousands of families mourning loved ones and millions of people who have lost their livelihoods as a result of the pandemic and lockdown. It will only be over once enough people are vaccinated. Catching covid and recovering is not good enough because a small percentage of those patients invariably end up in hospital which will crush a buckling system even further.

If you don't want to get vaccinated then you need to leave the job and retrain as something else. Nobody owes you the job because you have an anxiety disorder that prevents you from being vaccinated. There are many jobs that do no require vaccinations so it doesn't mean you will lose the chance of earning an income.

If you do not want to seek therapy for your health anxiety, then spare a thought for doctors and nurses who have battled the front lines of covid for the past two years. They have worked 24 hour shifts in full-body PPE and watched people die every single day. Imagine the therapy they need for that. The "work" in a dental office is a joke in comparison (husband admits that he got off the easiest from all of his medical colleagues).

Terrific post, agree 100%.

OP you have to suck it up. If you choose not to be vaccinated then you accept the consequences. You have the right to get a different job.

I agree with the government.
I don’t understand why vaccine symptoms are more scary than covid for some people, it’s nuts. Healthy young people have died of covid.

Vaccines have always had a risk, but the risk of a vaccine is less than the risk of disease. When you’re working in healthcare you have a responsibility to be fully protected to protect those who need your care, PPE or not.

You say you believe in science but clearly that’s not true as if you did you’d jump at the chance to be vaccinated.

A genuine question - if you have severe health anxiety will that not be made worse if you have Covid as opposed to the vaccine? Does Covid not give you health anxiety?

and I am willing to take responsibility that it's my own fault due to MH issues.

Great post, but I would challenge this.

It's not your 'fault'. It's a health condition, like being short sighted that limits career choices.

I’d bet money that unvaccinated people are probably more aware and careful with hand washing and PPE too when working with the vulnerable.

I'd take that bet up and give you good odds on it too. I would say they are probably the ones that are less likely to fully understand the risks.

I'm not sure why people working in healthcare would be surprised that there would be new requirements for vaccinations over time, to add to the hep b etc that they need to have. I know previous vaccine requirements had a different legal requirement but you still need them to work in health.
I feel for you with your anxiety, but surely you can see this? New vaccines are developed over time, and this is one that is relevant in a uk setting.
And there are immunosuppressed people who are still vulnerable despite the vaccine so that is an important reason for health workers needing it.

@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

Isn't that going to be the case in most countries? A lot have more draconian rules than we do, eg Austria locking down the unvaccinated again.

OP, the illness scares me more than the vaccine. But, as others have said, April is some way off and things may calm down by then. Don't give it headspace and carry on as normal for now.

(I would rather have a quick jab than have to test myself every day - the tests are much worse in my view)

Yes your health anxiety will mean you risk losing your job, not a need to have a safe and effective vaccine.

Find another job.

Your role is to care for people. They can't choose who treats them based on whether you have had a vaccine or not.

If you can't take the right precautions to protect them (from you being infected and asymptomatic) you need to leave.

Also, working in a medical/ health care setting when you have MH issues yourself, is not the best role for you.

It was only yesterday I watched a video of a lady crying her eyes out because after getting covid everything she eats now tastes absolutely rotten/like sewage. Apparently around 10% of people with covid have reported experiencing this for upto 3 months.
Can you imagine? This poor lady has been experiencing it for nearly a year and doctors have told her if it doesn’t go back to normal after a year passes she may never get past this.

I also feel for people suffering long covid in general whilst healthy fit people sit and whinge about being ‘forced’ to get a vaccine or lose their job.

The lack of appreciation to the healthcare we get access to and so quickly is appalling to be honest and such a mockery to those who have suffered because of this pandemic.

@wingingmumlife why do you think you have more chance of dying taking a vaccine than contracting Covid?

Healthy young people have died of covid

Healthy young people have died of the covid vaccine.

Nobody should be coerced into having a vaccine. I will say that I do agree with it for care workers but had not realised that it would be extended to dentistry. I don't think dentistry is the same as long term care and the risks of a dentist or other worker passing it onto a patient are much lower than if someone is caring for you day in day out, aerosols notwithstanding.

Nobody should be coerced into having a vaccine

Nobody is.

I'm sorry you are feeling anxious, but I don't want anyone who needs to be in very close contact with me - dr, dentist, nurse, hairdresser - to be unvaccinated.

I can't understand why you are more worried about the vaccine than you are about contracted covid. I understand that you think you will be ok because you are in PPE, but you don't wear that 24/7. You could stlll catch it from someone close to you in a pub, or at a bar, or in the supermarket.

Not having the vaccine is selfish. We all need to play our part in keeping everyone safe.

@ColinTheKoala

Come on then, show me how many fit healthy people have died of covid compared to how many fit and healthy people have died from having a vaccine.

As you have admitted that your reason for not having it is anxiety related rather than the stuff itself, I think you need to get professional help for the anxiety.
I have volunteered at a vaccine centre and we had lots of people come through with severe anxiety over it and the HCPs dealt with them all very sensitively.

I know you can’t pick what you’re anxious about but it is a fact that there is far more to worry about with actually catching covid than of the vaccine.

Hep b is mandatory. Had it before I even started my midwifery training.

Health anxiety is irrational, you know that. Have you asked for help with it?

The vaccine is essential for your job - I'm with your employers. If you lose your job it's your anxiety causing it.

To mention human rights in this context is daft. What about the rights of those you are in contact with who trust you to do the right thing?

@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?

I understand Hep B vaccine is compulsory for dentists and dental nurses. Presumably you've had that, so what's the difference?

My husband has a phobia of needles. He got the covid jab because he also has a modicum of intelligence.

OP, you will have to get another job.

Read reputable sources on severity and deaths rates in unvaccinated people. Get the anxiety under control. Then decide.

I worked in age care and have to have a yearly Flu jab.
To continue employment in Age care I’d have had a covid Vax.
To work with any at risk population you should of course be vaccinated.

Why are your choices more important that others real risks?
Don’t want a jab find a new industry you work in.

Once again, being off sick will not prevent dismissal proceedings. Employment can be terminated whether or not you are off sick. And often is. Remember having the vaccine is a change in legal position not contractual. You are legally not allowed to work in a care home now without vaccination unless exempt. From 1 April it is likely you will legally not be allowed to work in some NHS roles without vaccination unless exempt. Your employer would be breaking the law to allow you to continue working in a role which requires a vaccination.

Posting in here is unwise for vacxine hesitant. You need to talk your worries through with someone who is knowledgeable, supportive and patient.

You are not the first and you will not be the last to wrestle with this.

You will reach a decision and life will go on.

Same scenario for everyone affected.

Anxiety is your real enemy here. There are ways to conquer anxiety but you have to put in the hard work. I hope you manage to, it would be a shame to let it continue to rule your life.

You have to have lots of vaccinations to work in dentistry. Not just HepB, your MMR, your BCG. You have to do lots and lots of things to work in dentistry. If new vaccinations come out of course you would need to have them. If you didnt develop immunity to hep b or MMR you wouldnt be able to pratice. If you got HIV and didnt get it under control you wouldnt be allowed to pratice. You have the right to do what you want but your employer has the right to not employ you if you are putting patients at risk

You are exposed to xrays every day. A chest xray is 1/10th of the yearly exposure of a dentak nurse. You should have done some radiation training and part of your dental nurse training so not sure why you had to google it. You also say you worked through the pandemic but practices were closed for the first lockdown.

What happens if you get a needle stick will you refuse your Heb B booster? You need to get your health anxiett under control becauae it risks putting patients at risk

In terms of your PPE, you dont actually need to wear full PPE for any non-agps or for agps in patients that have been tested 72hrs before. It is possible that your principle wants to increase their capacity back in line to pre covid levels and reduce PPe useage. This would be in line with guidelines, but would be reasomable to expect staff to be vaccinated to acheibe this and reduce staff sickness