Maybe they will. The hostility is on both sides but I do find it perhaps ironic that many of those who disparaged the speed at which the vaccine was developed and questioned its safety last year are the same people now complaining that it’s not being readily accepted by all.
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Some are complaining it’s not being accepted by all, but the latest posts I read were annoyed that anti-vax people were wishing harm on those who opted for it.
My guys have had the same thing happen to them on FB BTW. I’ve seen it written out in letters to the editor and far right columnists in my local newspaper too.
That’s just plain wrong/mean/crazy and gives me far less respect for those folks.
I’m pro “live and let live.” My vaccine will hopefully protect me, but I don’t wish harm on anyone choosing not to get it.
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I just skip past the arguments on Next Door about the vaccines as must of the anti vax people have arguments that don’t make any sense or are not founded in science.
I have been able to get a lot of information regarding the vaccines and their development and testing from a good friend (research scientist) who has actually developed vaccines over the past 25 plus years. I trust his input on the subject and he feels strongly that the current vaccines are safe for people to get.
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We seem to be seeing more vaccine supply than demand in near north Chicago suburbs…over 20 vaccine appointments still available today at the local HS site.
If anyone wants the details, PM me.
Last year I worried about the speed of the rollout, but later learned that this type of vaccine had almost gone into production when it SARS fizzled out. Also it’s not just that you can die from Covid, but being a long-hauler is no joke either. I also know enough people who got seriously sick and a couple who have died. All those things combined made the vaccine an easy choice.
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Absolutely agree with all your points! People are still being hospitalized and dying everyday although that coverage has definitely waned. But if people aren’t able to look beyond their own personal experience that’s an issue as well. Fortunately for me I had none of the experiences you did. However, I am a big vaccine proponent and am thankful every day that we live in a time when the technology exists for us to develop these successful vaccines….even though there were numerous vaccine candidates that didn’t work this time. I sincerely hope that over the coming months that more people will take the vaccine.
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The key to getting rid of the virus without another million people dying in the USA is mass vaccinations. So people both refusing to get vaccinated and refusing to take precautions is directly affecting me, and worse, it is affecting people who are vulnerable who also cannot get vaccinations.
Moreover, the more people who are infected, the higher the chance of yet another mutation which will be able to get around vaccinations.
So a “live and let live” philosophy is only good if one’s actions have no impact on others. As it is, people who refuse to get vaccinated and also refuse to take precautions are not letting others live.
For example, a “live and let live” philosophy is useless when driving. No matter how careful and safe a person drives, they are in danger from any other driver who refuses to drive safely.
People who refuse to be vaccinated and refuse to take steps to avoid infecting others are not people who are refusing to put on a seat belt. They are people who cut in front of you with no safety margin, and then slam on brakes, the people who tailgate you, the people who weave all over the highway at 80 mph.
They are not only endangering themselves, they are endangering others, and that is what many people cannot, or will not, see.
It is a global pandemic caused by a novel virus. Close to 600,000 people have died in the USA, and millions are saddled with long-term health complications, yet too many people insist on treating it as though it isn’t an infectious disease, which, or if it is, that it’s no worse than a common cold, or worse, as though it weren’t happening.
Again, if a person does not trust these vaccines, they must continue to mask up while in public, and avoid indoor public spaces unless they have no choice. This is not a choice which only affects them, and they do not have the right to claim so, and to behave so.
Another good example of how the vaccines are effective is to compare Germany and the UK. With fewer restrictions and similar population densities, the UK has, proportionally, 3x as many fully vaccinated and 2x as many partially vaccinated. Germany now has almost 7x as many new COVID cases per capita as the UK. Germany’s per capita daily death rate is also more than 3x that of the UK, even though it has been much lower than the UKs for most of the pandemic.
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In an ideal world everyone would see the benefits of being vaccinated and willingly participate in this endeavor when they can (assuming they can) and we wouldn’t even have those rare cases of people having serious ill effects from the vaccine.
I don’t live in that ideal world. I live in the real world and around here a fair segment has never “believed” in Covid and certainly won’t get vaccinated. They are even less likely to do so if they feel pressured to do so vs slowly warming up to it by accepting them as they are and realizing the part of them that is wary has some cause - even if Covid has worse odds via the stats.
I’m happy that more have chosen to be vaccinated than I thought would. I’m happy my family and I were able to get vaxes and don’t seem to have any lasting ill effects from them. I can choose to get upset at the others and show my frustration to them, but I choose not to.
No regrets.
There are still folks around here who won’t wear seatbelts too - and many carry guns everywhere being certain they will save the world if anything warranted it. Stats showing seatbelts save lives and they are more in danger of losing a loved one from their gun are meaningless. (One family I know personally did lose a child a decade or so ago.) There are people all over who still use their phones while driving. I see it all the time at all speeds.
I can live and let live or kill myself earlier via stressing about other people’s choices.
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No excuse anymore that vaccine is not available in the US. I’ve booked in multiple states and it’s never been easier. I am disheartened at the number of people getting the first and not the second. I don’t understand the reasoning. You might have 24hrs of not feeling well but it’s so much better than getting the virus. I haven’t heard from anyone that had a severe reaction to the second say they wouldn’t do it again.
If you know someone struggling to book a first or second appt. feel free to pm me.
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I, too, had hesitations about taking a brand new vaccine until I learned that much of the technology has been studied for years prior to this pandemic. It’s not as “new” as many would have us believe.
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The tech isn’t new but using it on people is. MRNA had pretty significant inflammatory response issues early on and it took a while to resolve them.
Fifteen years ago, Weissman’s lab was trying to harness mRNA to make a variety of drugs and vaccines. But researchers found simply injecting the genetic code into animals caused harmful inflammation.
Weissman and a Penn colleague now at BioNTech, Katalin Kariko, figured out a tiny modification to a building block of lab-grown RNA that let it slip undetected past inflammation-triggering sentinels.
“They could essentially make a stealth RNA,” said Pfizer chief scientific officer Dr. Philip Dormitzer.
Other researchers added a fat coating, called lipid nanoparticles, that helped stealth RNA easily get inside cells and start production of the target protein.
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For threads that have a tendency to get heated like this one, I posted a “How To” on flag usage. You can help us keep the conversation civil and open by casting flags! Thank you all!
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This was a very interesting listen last night.
In a nutshell, Frank Luntz (Republican pollster) wanted to find a way to get through to vaccine hesitant people. He brought a series of speakers (primarily Republican politicians, including Chris Christie and Kevin McCarthy) to a 2 hour zoom session with a group of hesitant people. By the time the session was over, most of the focus group were dramatically more willing to consider getting vaccinated.
There were many excellent talking points. The thing that resonated with me was when Dr. Tom Frieden (former CDC director) said one thing in particular: Covid attacks every organ in your body.
Is this why my stepmom became blind after Covid? Is this why my dad’s prostate cancer, which he died of in March, suddenly exploded throughout his body after getting covid in December? Is this why my friend’s husband in his mid 50’s just had a liver transplant after Covid in February? In all these cases, doctors seem to think the answer is yes.
You don’t want to get covid. And you don’t want to give it to someone else who might die of it. I think if more people were aware of real life consequences, they’d be less hesitant to get vaccinated.
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The CDC at one point said that if you had a bad reaction after the first shot that there is a good chance you had covid already and a second shot may not be necessary.
And even one shot gives some immunity (even if not as good as two)
Way to go, Frank Luntz!
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Last year (Aug, Sept) I probably would have been considered ‘vaccine reluctant.’ I wasn’t anti, but just didn’t feel the need to be in the first group. I easily adjusted to making and wearing masks, going to the grocery store only once a week, staying home. I wasn’t afraid to go out but didn’t have much need to do so.
I was very happy that the first group included my brother, an EMT, and that my sister the teacher was able to get her vaccine fairly quickly. My mother, 85, was also not pushing her way to the front of the line but was eligible in Jan and got in the drive thru line.
I admit I got mine the first day I was eligible because I’d learned a lot since the first talk of getting vaccinated last summer. I hope there is more info put out there to help other reluctants get in line. Chris Christie is a good spokeperson since he had such a bad case of covid.
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Me too. I actually deleted the NextDoor app.
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Indeed …
FYI, NextDoor has an easy way to flag posts, and one of the categories you can pick for the reason you are flagging is “misinformation or abuse related to COVID and associated issues.” Mocking or wishing harm on the vaccinated is abusive. Given where I live, I don’t see a ton of that on my feed, but I have seen the site remove some anti-vax and anti-mask misinformation.
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