I met a real life full on anti vaxxer today

[shiningcuckoo]

And some of her opinions were so out there and aggressive I had to walk away. Apparently if we hadn't vaccinated against measles we'd all be ok because measles provides immunity. And actually measles never hurt anyone. And polio never hurt anyone either. People being seriously ill was a conspiracy designed to get us to accept vaccines back in the day, al" heading towards the greatest conspiracy of all and that is population control and the existence of Covid. She apparently knows loads of "elders" who nursed people through polio. Apparently it's very mild. I asked her to define "elders" and she talked about my generation. My generation were vaccinated. No one had polio, never mind nursed others. And there is no Covid in Africa. And no Covid in Nepal. She knows this because she once went on holiday to Nepal. And she is applying to remove her children from Steiner to homeschool them because vaccinated teachers (it's mandatory here) are a poor moral example. Either that or are being forced . When I said that I didn't know a single teacher who had been vaccinated against their will (and I know loads having been a teacher for 20 years) she said that was just my opinion and one opinion counted for nothing. I had to leave her company.

Mary Berry has a problem with her hand as a result of polio. Is that not real then ????

I know a couple that are anti-vax. Apparently we’re being chipped and Pfizer gives you varicose veins. It’s all about control. Omicron is made up to make us get boosters.

I thought Brexit was friendship-ending but the Covid anti-vaxxer/conspiracy theorists take it to a whole new level. One woman I know who I wasn't specifically close to but her Dh and mine are old old friends and we have a small group of girlfriends who are interlinked so we always all enjoyed a good meet up etc, has been sending the craziest stuff on WhatsApp. We've all just disengaged now and don't respond at all.

What frightens me about her is that she attempts to use this incredibly rational and calm tone which almost works until you actually listen to what she's saying. My first inkling of this was when she sent a message months ago at the height of lockdown which all sounded nice and understanding but what it was really saying was that we should let old and fat and brown people die and the rest (of us) should be allowed to carry on with our lives. Her plan was for people who have had and recovered from the virus (not her though) to go into old age homes to care for the elderly (with a strong judgemental tone because current carers were considered higher risk). It was mind blowing.

Ex h refuses to allow his youngest (teenaged) children as well as himself and partner of course, to have any vaccines - if pressed he will solemnly say 'wait until China disappears..'

Ermmmm..?

Didn't 1 in 5 children die during the Victorian period due to preventative illnesses? If immune systems alone could fight of illnesses then why did that happen? I remember mentioning this to an anti vax conspiracy theorist online once and I was instantly blocked.

I wonder if they take antibiotics, or paracetamol.

My mum has polio in the 1940s and walked with painful difficulty for the rest of her life. One other child in her village died and one became a wheelchair user.

[quote vera99]I knew Jehovah witnesses are controversially opposed to blood transfusions so was surprised to see they are on message with vaccination as it would be approved by God !

www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/jw-vaccines-immunization/[/quote]
When you read that you could be mistaken into thinking Jehovahs Witnesses are sane rationsl people who ‘gladly accept medical treatment’ but when it comes to blood transfusions they suddenly become as delusional as Anti-Vaxxers and will steadfastly sit and watch their children die in front of them instead of receiving a blood transfusion.

Do not be fooled by them.

Oh..*another vaccine thread, interesting

We know a very sweet couple who won’t get vaxxed. I showed them the evidence why it is a good idea (they are ca 60 years old…nope). So, I’ve been avoiding seeing them very much, take a LFT when I do (I’m triple vaxxed), and then we have walks outside. I just don’t discuss it with them any more …don’t want to upset them. Had their Christmas gift delivered to them. I worry about them a lot.

A school friend's much older brother who is now retired lost the use of his foot to polio. Vaccines work.

Sadly there is a large minority of people that have gone down the rabbit hole and lost it all. I have a neighbour who continually tries to engage with covid chat eg it doesn't exist, the death rate is normal and it's just the flu, we are all being controlled, the Great reset is coming and she and her husband cannot wait for us to all 'wake up'.

Batshit crazy. They all appear to want to spread their rubbish so I think it has taken on a cult like group thing. Spread the word and wake us all up.

Some are more subtle and go around planting doubt about vaccines, spreading scare stories with a slight bit of truth within and exaggerating to scare people with poor mental health or the very health anxious and those are the ones I think it works best on.

JWs aren't just opposed to blood transfusions, they're opposed to anything that might be derived in any way from humans, including erythropoietin (a hormone that increases blood cell production).
This makes treating them when they have severe (life-threatening) anaemia VERY difficult.

I've got one next door. Genuinely believes this is the start of a new world order and that vaccines turn you into robots. Couldn't believe I was vaccinating my children and asked whether I loved them!

She is a total and utter fruit loop.

I think the proper anti vaxxers I know (I’m not including those who who have had the vaccine but don’t want the booster) fall into 2 camps.
Those who believe all the conspiracy theories and think covid is fake. They think the vaccine will kill them or chip them so refuse.
Those who weighed up their personal risk and are taking vitamins and trying to be healthy to minimise their risk even more.

@JaniieJones

If people won't have a vaccination there's nothing I can do about it, but I don't want to hear them wang on defending their poor decisions.

Why do they feel the need to argue about it?! just stfu, be grateful a large percentage of the population have been vaccinated so we've been able to have a normal life since July.

I wonder if they actually feel a bit ashamed hence their need for constant validation?

Couldn’t agree more.

‘Yes but following this to its logical conclusion the elite if the world are more likely to want the remaining population to be the sensible sort who listen and follow government instructions rather than have the world's population depending on those anti vaxxers who come across as ranting idiots.‘

Now that’s proper logic

You can’t reason with crazy. Or have a logical conversation. Just smile and back away slowly …

Had measles, mumps and chicken pox as a kid. the MMR vaccine I had was too attenuated, so I had to have it again when entering university in the States…it was a requirement. I had boosters when in primary school in the 70s, given by the school nurse, again a requirement. No one had problems with it. I still have a scar on my forehead from the chicken pox to remind me that vaccines are a gift and prevent suffering and childhood mortality.

I knew a full on anti vaxxer, ran my pub.
He's dead now from covid.

"I think a lot of antivaxxers (of the hardcore variety as opposed to the hesitants) are basically people who are mentally quite unwell and very lost and looking for something to grasp hold of."

I think you are right there. They cannot imagine a tiny virus could cause so much devastation and so have to believe it's invented/control etc by the 'leaders'. I do get rather fed up with the 'wake up' posts some appear to share when they are very much mentally asleep and regurgitating YouTube memes and sayings.

In my 50s - I know of one (much older - probably late 80s/90s now if still around) person who had polio (and lost the use of his arm). No one younger.

3 of my great grandfather's siblings died of diptheria (he was 1 of 13). I know of no one in living memory who has had it.

I know of no one who has had smallpox...

Hmmm if I could only think of the reason???

As a child we didn't have MMR, meningitis jab or HPV jab ... I'm so glad they are available for my kids.

'Polio never hurt anyone'. Hmmm tell that to my cousin , who spent a year in an iron lung, unable to breathe on his own. He survived but was left with weakness in his throat, and has spent the last 70-odd years always needing to swallow his food with extra water to wash it down, because his muscles were left so weak.

Similarly, those who have been left suffering deafness or even having delirium with it , as I did, after getting measles pre-vaccines.

22 years ago when DD2 was in the NICU in the LGI, I spoke to another mum a couple if times. Her baby had catastrophic complications from measles and the last throw of the dice was some very experimental surgery involving mesh going over the diaphragm? (no idea what that was about).
I don’t know the outcome but I know they had been told he was very poorly indeed and I think it looked bleak in terms of survival.
Measles is a strange, one perhaps a little analogous to Covid in that for the majority it is an unpleasant but survival illness but a minority will have significant and quite wide ranging complications.

I’m concerned that there might be a grim legacy from Covid of elevated rates of death from vascular problems long after people survive the initial illness. I really hope not but there are some indications it could be the case. It will take a long time for a statistical link to be made or discounted due to the impossibility of attributing a heart attack or brain haemorrhage to having Covid 6 months earlier. However given the enormous data sample researchers have I’m sure someone will be looking into it.

So many reasons to want to avoid contracting Covid.

My poor dad was left a paraplegic from polio !
I have no words

Does anyone have any memories of how people regarded the early vaccines for polio, for example? And whether there were immune reactions for those who got a jab? Was there a similar swathe of antivaxx opinions?