Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

Is anyone else still completely unvaccinated?

353 replies

Honeyhorse · 13/12/2021 08:09

I know this will probably cause arguments, but I’m just wondering who else is still completely unvaccinated like myself.
Mine is due to extreme anxiety and a needle phobia.
I’m not anti vaccination and I don’t think it’s a conspiracy theory or microchip etc.
I want to talk to my GP about how I’m feeling but I can’t get an appointment Sad
Now everyone is getting boosters and I haven’t even had one, I feel embarrassed and ashamed, but I can’t do it, it’s like I need to be knocked unconscious before I’ll have it. I’ve even walked into the vaccination centre but ended up leaving after a few minutes as I had a panic attack.

I don’t know what to do.

OP posts:
pointythings · 14/12/2021 11:06

Vaccinated people spread COVID less than unvaccinated people. That's the evidence. So refusing to get vaxxed means you're happy to spread the virus at a higher rate when it is in your power to do better. There's a word for that.

I absolutely agree that ITL should be a medical exemption.

churchofthepoisonmind · 14/12/2021 11:09

@pointythings

Vaccinated people spread COVID less than unvaccinated people. That's the evidence. So refusing to get vaxxed means you're happy to spread the virus at a higher rate when it is in your power to do better. There's a word for that.

I absolutely agree that ITL should be a medical exemption.

They still spread it @pointythings and the evidence as to how much less is conflicting to say the least. If they still catch it and still spread it, all arguments end there.
stupiduser · 14/12/2021 11:11

My daughter is needle phobic too. She has managed to have her jabs and agrees they are tiny jabs and you barely notice them. It also helped to realise that she would end up with a lot more medical intervention including needles if she got a bad case of covid

RJnomore1 · 14/12/2021 11:17

I’ve just read this - I wouldn’t be waiting for it having had Covid just before I was eligible for vaccine and having been really ill but I thought it might give some of you on here hope:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-59642182

pointythings · 14/12/2021 11:22

They still spread it @pointythings and the evidence as to how much less is conflicting to say the least. If they still catch it and still spread it, all arguments end there.

You've fallen for the zero sum argument. It goes like this: If the vaccine doesn't 100% stop you from catching it and doesn't 100% stop you from spreading it, it's therefore useless.

There's no arguing with that level of dense.

churchofthepoisonmind · 14/12/2021 11:29

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Duckrace · 14/12/2021 11:53

I think the needle is so fine that many people don't notice it.

Duckrace · 14/12/2021 11:53

(If that helps at all).

Florianus · 14/12/2021 12:19

@Duckrace

I think the needle is so fine that many people don't notice it.
Indeed. I wonder if some with a needle phobia remember (as I do) the horrid needles used in childhood. Those used today for vaccination are so incredibly thin that, as Duckrace said, many don't even feel it.

Those who do have a phobia should note that trials are just beginning in Southampton of a needle-free delivery of the vaccine, using a strong puff of air.

Saucery · 14/12/2021 12:41

It’s not really about the needle. I know I’ve had sharper nips from my puppy than the pain of a modern vaccination.
For me, the lack of control is the thing. I think that goes back to a school nurse holding my wrist flat against a table and laughing at me / telling me off for trying to jerk it away from the needle about to squirt the TB test liquid onto it. No one had explained to me that large needle wasn’t going in my wrist!
I found the powerlessness the hardest thing. In my head, I have to tell myself that I can leave at any time, any point in the process. As an adult, of course I always have that option so I’m more likely to see it through.
My Covid vaccs were outside a Gp’s surgery in tents like a Farmers Market, so a lot less ‘medical’ than normal appts involving a needle and lots of fresh air with no ‘medical smell’.

MarshaBradyo · 14/12/2021 12:43

I think with phobias it’s not rational

So I know something is harmless but it still triggers a phobic response

Many things people say don’t go in because stress is heightened

MegaClutterSlut · 14/12/2021 12:47

My phobia isn't about the pain as such, tbh I couldn't really tell you why I have this fear. No bad experience or anything. Get myself so worked and I feel like a right dick afterwards Blush I actually piss myself off that I get in that state

I have asked dh to book me an appointment and he's said he's not going to tell me until the morning of, when he told that I nearly had a cry ffs Blush just hope I can go through with it

Saucery · 14/12/2021 12:54

I actually piss myself off that I get in that state

Yes, I think I’m pathetic! And I never think anyone else is pathetic for feeling that way, just me. It was the main driver for me being determined to beat it. I had something wrong with me that needed blood tests. I would not go for the blood tests. So because some school nurse was an insensitive bitch 35 years ago I was going to carry on suffering? Nope. It wasn’t happening. So, it’s cheery voice, cry if I have to, tell the HCP I have a needle phobia and bar one hospital phlebotomist when I was pregnant every single one has been fantastic at helping me.

pointythings · 14/12/2021 13:05

Flowers for everyone who is fighting needle or other phobias.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 14/12/2021 14:12

I've just got back from having my booster and I'm now feeling thoroughly embarrassed. We got there with DH leading me in (holding my hand to stop me running not because he loves me apparently!) as I hyperventilated. When the volunteer on the door saw the state I was in she sent someone to get the manager and I was able to sit with DH in a side corridor.

I was then fast tracked past everyone else who was waiting and taken to a screened off area with a bed. They brought the laptop to me to book me in and then the manager vaccinated me while DH stayed with me, I waited for 15 minutes and we went home.

I'm just so embarrassed that people saw me in that state or that they'd think I'd pushed to the front of the queue. I would have given anything to be sitting calmly waiting my turn like everyone else.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 14/12/2021 14:15

I think with phobias it’s not rational

My needle phobia is purely of hypodermic needles. I have tattoos and my ears are pierced but get me anywhere near a hypodermic needle and I can't cope. I do know when it went from 'don't like' to full blown phobia, it was after I had a blood gases test in hospital when I had pancreatitis.

Saucery · 14/12/2021 14:18

Anyone with an ounce of sense would realise you had a problem that meant you had to go in first, @PinkSparklyPussyCat, don’t pay them any mind. I bet a fair few of them were absorbed in their own thoughts anyway.
Non-patronising Well done!. It’s not easy to overcome but you did it, you’re another one boostered and a small step nearer to us all being able to live life more normally.

ChequerBoard · 14/12/2021 14:46

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

I've just got back from having my booster and I'm now feeling thoroughly embarrassed. We got there with DH leading me in (holding my hand to stop me running not because he loves me apparently!) as I hyperventilated. When the volunteer on the door saw the state I was in she sent someone to get the manager and I was able to sit with DH in a side corridor.

I was then fast tracked past everyone else who was waiting and taken to a screened off area with a bed. They brought the laptop to me to book me in and then the manager vaccinated me while DH stayed with me, I waited for 15 minutes and we went home.

I'm just so embarrassed that people saw me in that state or that they'd think I'd pushed to the front of the queue. I would have given anything to be sitting calmly waiting my turn like everyone else.

Please don't be embarrassed, it's great that you are now vaccinated and that the staff were so accommodating and helpful.

The staff are trained to look for people who have all sorts of issues. I'm walking with a stick at the moment due to a serious knee injury. Likewise I was spotted on arrival and whisked through the back route to the vaccinators so I didn't have to stand and queue (it was a booked appointment but lots of people arrived at the same time). I wasn't embarrassed just grateful.

I really hope this encourages others with needle phobias that they will be sensitively treated at the vaccination centre.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 14/12/2021 16:29

Thank you @ChequerBoard and @Saucery for your kind words. I just felt very silly crying and hyperventilating when everyone else was just getting on with their day! At least it's done now.

XenoBitch · 14/12/2021 16:36

@PinkSparklyPussyCat well done on today. You might have been in a state, but what you did today was brave and I hope that you can be proud of that Flowers

pointythings · 14/12/2021 16:50

@PinkSparklyPussyCat seriously, what you have done today is a really major achievement. Challenging yourself like that is huge. Phobias are incredibly hard to face.

MarshaBradyo · 14/12/2021 17:09

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

I've just got back from having my booster and I'm now feeling thoroughly embarrassed. We got there with DH leading me in (holding my hand to stop me running not because he loves me apparently!) as I hyperventilated. When the volunteer on the door saw the state I was in she sent someone to get the manager and I was able to sit with DH in a side corridor.

I was then fast tracked past everyone else who was waiting and taken to a screened off area with a bed. They brought the laptop to me to book me in and then the manager vaccinated me while DH stayed with me, I waited for 15 minutes and we went home.

I'm just so embarrassed that people saw me in that state or that they'd think I'd pushed to the front of the queue. I would have given anything to be sitting calmly waiting my turn like everyone else.

Oh my gosh

Well done.

Never be embarrassed

peboh · 14/12/2021 17:12

My DH is, however his is due to medical exemption.
Definitely speak to your gp when you can, not even so much regarding this vaccine, but to try and get some support with your anxiety and help you manage it better. Anxiety can be the most crippling the thing, I hope you get the support you need Thanks

BlackCatz · 14/12/2021 17:29

@Duckrace

I think the needle is so fine that many people don't notice it.
This.

I honest to God did not even feel mine.

Saucery · 14/12/2021 17:36

It’s not about the fineness of the needle or the pain, BlackCatz, it’s a wider and more complicated set of reactions than that.
Childbirth was painful, but that was ok. Blood tests beforehand however…..even with Emla cream (yes, they had to find me some Emla cream, probably from the Children’s Ward! ). The family member with me said it was like I was possessed, they’d never seen me so terrified, out of control or desperate to get away.