Coming to terms with the Vaccine
Mon, July 26, 2021 After being locked down for most of 2020, I anxiously awaited while a Covid vaccine was developed. At eighty-five years of age, I was one of the first to get it. Having signed up with a local pharmacy in December of last year, I got my first Moderna shot in January this year, the second in February. I was fortunate in that I had no adverse side effects from either shot.
There was never any hesitancy in my decision to get vaccinated, at my age I was not messing around with this one, and on completion of my second shot, I felt a huge sense of relief in that I was now somewhat protected.
Recently as restrictions were lifted, and I have appreciated the freedom of not wearing a mask everywhere I go, and the simple pleasures in life like eating out in a restaurant occasionally. Now there is talk of a partial shut down again, and it is not just here in America, it is world-wide. Riots in *Australia and France over restrictions, democracies where people enjoy everyday freedoms, and therein lays the problem. One cannot live in a democracy and mandate that people get vaccinated.
The other issue is the fake news and conspiracy theories that abound. I have read some outrageous claims, mostly on social media, and the comments section of articles. One said that the government was injecting nano-bots into people’s blood stream, the object being to be able to track people. “Really… You think the government would go to that trouble and expense when they can already track what you saying on Facebook?”
Another said that they knew a person who had the shot, and after their arm swelled up so bad, the arm had to be amputated. To which I say, “No, you did not know such a person. You either made that up or read it somewhere.”
One must use logic, and look at the source of the story, and look for other stories on the same subject. The problem is people tend to look for opinions that align with their already established beliefs. This can be seen by the states and areas that have the lowest numbers of their population vaccinated. People tend to believe and do what their friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors do.
One can also see that the areas with the lowest vaccine rates, have the highest hospitalization rates, proving that vaccines work. Also, as the months go by, more and more data is collected, and I do not see the adverse side effects materializing, that those opposing the vaccine use as an excuse not to participate.
What about the long-term effects of the vaccine? What about the long-term effects of the Covid virus when doctors have seen damage to lungs equivalent to a lifetime of smoking? Not to mention long term brain damage. To the people who tell me they are afraid to take the vaccine, I tell them I was afraid not to take it.
Does anyone remember Aids back in the 1980s? No one took that serious until people we actually knew caught it and died. I remember at least three people who died, not close friends but people I had met and conversed with. It had a profound effect. Sadly, it will take the same thing with the Covid. When friends, family, or just people you remember talking to fall victim, it will cause you to re-think. Why not re-think now?
*Australia. See comment below.
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Reader Comments (15)
I live in Australia and I haven't seen any reports of riots here. A few people were arrested in Melbourne but by US standards that would count as extremely quiet. This is more a Stoke-on-Trent level of "violence at a protest" than a riot, no-one was killed, no-one was even injured, no fires were started, no property was damaged. The only riot reports I can see come from the more excitable far right media outlets... you might want to think about their agenda before helping them spread their message.
Australia still has more demand for vaccines than supply, with only the Astra-Zenica shot available on demand and that only because our governments have been at pains to emphasise how risky it is. They've also varied who can have it quite randomly which doesn't help (I'm in my 50's and got it as soon as I could, the statistics are not ambiguous for my age group even before delta arrived here).
It appears we have moved from the age of enlightenment, 200 + years ago, to the age of extremism enabled by the scope of world wide instant communications.
Moz,
As a regular here with your comments, I will take your word over some sensationalized news story. Thank you for setting the record straight,
SJX462
Indeed, we live in an age of "Smart" Phones and Dumb people. Artificial Intelligence and Artificial News Stories, A place where Common Sense is becoming less and less common.
Dave
Living in Melbourne, I can second Moz’s comment, but add that there was a larger demonstration in Sydney (a few thousand people) where some people made idiots of themselves by punching police horses & getting into a fracas when resisting arrest—as Moz says, ‘violence at a protest’. Many of the protesters are serial pests often seen campaigning for individual ‘free-speech rights’ at the expense of social responsibility. Some are self-identified Nazis.These people would probably have liked to see a riot. Others at the protests are stressed & afraid in the face of a world wide disaster and deserve compassion, information & support.
Hi Dave,
I am not anti vaccine, but I will not be taking any of the experimental covid vaccines. Apart from anything else, they're not particularly effective - fully or partially vaccinated people still contract and transmit covid (the statistics from Israel and Great Britain bear this out quite clearly). "Oh but their symptoms are much reduced!" we are told.
Well, I'm vaccinated against polio. Never have I had "just a bout" of polio that then clears up, all the while infecting others. Ditto measles, mumps etc etc.
I don't mind if everyone else on the planet wants to get the vaccine, I'm not saying they shouldn't, please go right ahead - it reduces the pressure on me.
There's a saying in some political circles, "Never let a crisis go to waste." The wholesale demolition of civil rights which is actively being cheered on and encouraged by the very citizens being crushed beneath it (I also live in Australia like your other commenters) is mind boggling.
Every morning I now dutifully scan in a QR code to my smartphone so that the government knows I've arrived at my workplace. Likewise when I leave. Same when I go to any shop or place of business. If you pretend to scan it, well you better watch out:
https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/7344840/more-covid-compliance-inspectors-start-checking-on-businesses-from-saturday/
Do you believe this will end when the crisis is over? If so I have a business opportunity involving a bridge that you might find very attractive.
The virus has mutated once more ("delta" strain) to a less lethal, but more transmissible version, as viruses typically do. Yet the histrionics over the delta variant beggar belief. A more cynical person may believe the end of lockdown goalposts will be shifted again, and again, and again...
We have plenty of vaccine shaming, mask shaming, citizens reporting non compliance of other citizens to the authorities. George Orwell would surely weep. Perhaps I just need to up my Soma intake before I'm carted away for re-indoctrination. 2+2=5, Big Brother loves me and all that.
Cue the outpouring of righteous indignation about what a conspiracy nutjob/mouth breathing moron I am.
Can’t fix stupid.
Dave,
Like you, we (the wife and I) took the shot as soon as possible. It happened like this. My wife has PTSD from a car accident at an early age, so we drive local roads whenever possible. On this day last March, we were driving from Kissimmee back to Tampa through Lakeland. We stopped at a brewery for a break and a sampler and then continued deep into MAGA country somewhere North of Interstate 4.
About three miles into our journey we saw a COVID Vaccine sign pointing to a park on the right just ahead. No one was in line, so we took a chance and pulled in. At the time Florida had just dropped the age to 60 and above and/or teachers. We were neither, but why not try. There were over 50 healthcare workers on-site, just standing around waiting to administer the vaccine At the time I was 54 and my wife was 48.
It turns out the term teacher at least on this day and at this site was used very liberally and after a brief discussion with the attendant, we were approved to get the shot. We felt like we had just won the lottery and as we waited in the compensatory 15 minutes to confirm no immediate adverse effects. We texted everyone we knew and told them to get down this site ASAP and try as well.
Two weeks later, Florida opened up and dropped the mandatory mak requirement, Two weeks and one day later was St Paddy's day. We were ready to celebrate even with only the first shot, We spent the entire day at our local Irish pub along with the rest of Tampa and a mess of tourists who had flown down from their more restrictive States. It was as if COVID had never happened...but it had and it was happening right in front of us.
A week later, all of our younger friends and co-workers who were there and unvaccinated came down with COVID. We hang out with a younger crowd and these 6 individuals in their early 30's were under the false impression that they could not get COVID and if they did it would not be so bad. Granted none of them ended up in the hospital, but all of them were out of work for two weeks or more and very ill.
I too was sick the day after, but that had everything to do with one too many baby Guiness,
Lemmi,
You misunderstand the effectiveness of vaccines. The reason that you have never had a 'light case' of polio or measles isn't because the vaccines are 100% effective, it is because those viruses do not circulate any longer and you have never been exposed. Why don't they? because enough people got vaccinated.
In the early days there were many people getting 'light cases' of these diseases, but as transmission rates dropped so did those occurrences. No vaccine is 100% effective. Never has been and never will be.
Are you tired of people putting a guilt trip on you for not getting vaccinated? There is a way to end that. Just get the fucking vaccine. The next time you are in a grocery store, walk up to the pharmacy department and ask for one, it is free and only takes a few minutes. End of problem, because once you are vaccinated it is a done deal, you can’t go back and undo it.
No one will give you shit for getting vaccinated, except perhaps a few of your anti-vaxxer friends, but even they will understand because after all they will be getting the same shit, and it will only increase as more and more people get vaccinated. The thing is this country has a certain population, and for that matter so does the whole world, so as more people get vaccinated there are gradually less unvaccinated people.
Do you really want to be one of the last to get vaccinated? Not being able to find a job, or go to a concert, or get on an airplane. You think that won’t happen in the Land of the Free? Remember people used to be able to smoke on airplanes, at work, and just about anywhere else they wanted, until smokers became the minority.
Many people gave up smoking, tired of dealing with the hassle of finding somewhere to smoke, plus it is bad for their health. The number of vaccinated people is now running into the millions and there are no widespread reports of large numbers of people suffering adverse side effects. Whereas, not getting vaccinated could have serious health implications. Bite the bullet, get the shot, do it now, you will feel nothing but relief.
Dave
Yep, there's that considered, rational discussion I was expecting. America used to consider itself the home of the *brave* and the land of the *free*, I think change that to home of the absence of critical thought.
Hear, hear, Dave.
What''s ironic is that while 99% of the current hospitalized cases are people who decided to reject the "experimental" vaccine, guess what's saving them from death? Yep, "Experimental" treatments!
The Wall Street Journal, two days ago, said this of hospital treatments: "Researchers have been held back by a lack of relevant research, a scattered array of clinical trials and a fragmented U.S. healthcare system." But health providers have nonetheless delivered them to willing patients, who tend to chime in that "this isn't a hoax after all!"
Funny how that all works. Maybe it's different in Australia (or Alabama, Arkansas, or Louisiana).
My original post was not meant to "convert" anyone to my way of thinking, nor was it anti-vax, quite the contrary, I would encourage *you* to get the vaccine, rather it was meant to provoke thought, perhaps intelligent discussion. I see that almost no one here is capable of either.
Apart from one comment, they've all been "Cain't fix stoopid, hur hur hur" failing to counter anything I said which just proves my point I guess. I form my own opinions about things based on information from a range of sources (hint: Fox News, CNN, FaceBook et al need not apply).
If this is what passes for debate among adults in "woke" America then it certainly explains a lot about the current state of your country. Jesus wept.
Lemmiwinks really piles up the usual tropes. Starts with various conspiracy theories, ignores facts, overstates and hyperbolizes, rolls out Orwell (of course!), then - after a number of us factually challenge his arguments - sobs about how intelligent debate is gone becase of ‘woke.’ Finishes with Jesus, just to conclude all high and mighty. “Your country.” In my country, Jesus is more likely crying a river over what “Christians” are doing in his name.
We are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right.
- George Orwell
Ironic that those who choose not to take Corona vaccines (for whatever reason) do not condemn those who choose to take them while those that take them vilify those that don’t and demand them separated (as if this is a foregone conclusion). That is appalling.
“Gotta keep ‘em separated.”
Shocking, Dave, that when you choose and decide for people, you don’t allow those same people the freedom to choose for themselves, nor for you.
As Offspring drummer Pete Parada says (who already had virus and chooses not to get vaccine after consulting his doctor because of pre-existing condition) said: “The hesitant population is not a monolithic group. All voices deserve to be heard.”
“One moment please….just a moment. An error has been detected…”
“I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.”