Are You Anti-vaccine?

Does seem to be increasing noise from those who believe the Covid vaccines have caused harm, so much so that it is beginning to impact on more mainstream politics.

Thought about putting this in the politics section, but wanted to get a broader idea of views.

Cards on the table, I believe vaccines are safe. All medicine has risks of harm, but the risks here are statistically very small and the reported ‘injuries’ are usually simply correlation. That is, among millions of people, a few will be getting seriously sick each day to their and others’ surprise. Ain’t nothing new about that.

But I’m intrigued to know how far the other views have taken hold and how many will refuse vaccines going forward (If the advice was to take them, as it’s unlikely they will be routinely offered this year outside of vulnerable categories).

If it gets very political, the mods can move it.

No Dr Jekyll and Micah Hyde option in the poll.

 

There are a few people that I am acquainted to that have suffered long term affects from the vaccine. It's a very, very small percentage and has not stopped me having the vaccines to date but, as the vast majority of Covid cases appear to now be akin to getting a cold, I doubt if I would go for any future vaccinations unless the virus morphs into something more serious as was the case in the early days

 

Have had vaccine and boosters with no after effects in the slightest. Had though COVID over Christmas so doesnt stop you getting but it was just like a bit of a cold .

 

Yeah I'm confident they're fine.

Though we opted not to give them to our kids (6 and 8) as by the point they became available it seemed very much like the consequences of Covid for that age group were so small as to make any need for a vaccine pointless. I also agree with @Halfwayline that I'd probably need more persuasion to get another round of Covid boosters or whatever for a similar reason.

 

It depends where your benchmark safe is really. All vaccines/medications have some side effects of varying degrees, bananas and nuts are generally considered safe things but they can kill some people stone dead.

In the context of the virus and it’s impact on our daily life (at its peak, unchecked) I think you can safely consider them safe when you consider the trade off of them not existing and the associated balance of risk Vs reward, but when you’re giving something to tens of millions of people it stands to reason that it won’t be safe for everyone.

 

I’m a big advocate of vaccinations. I use vaccines every day and the side effects that we see are very few and far between.

The covid vaccine programme has been superb, it has definitely helped to reduce mortality and morbidity from coronavirus. I don’t think I would get another booster (I’ve had three jabs at this point) unless the virus mutated and deaths began to rise again at this point. I would rather the at risk and vulnerable continued to receive these vaccines, but that the funds for mass vaccination be put into further encouraging research such as use of mRNA vaccines in treatment of certain cancers etc.

 

Correct. The great problem is that so few people seem to grasp statistics and probability, particularly when it comes to medical matters. Vaccines have been around since the 18th century, so I think scientists would have worked out by now if they were inherently unsafe.

 

When you say a ‘few people’ given how many people most of us know, that would be highly statistically relevant when extrapolated across the population.

And when you say have suffered long term affects, how serious have these been and how were they attributed to the vaccine?

 

Yes I believe the vaccines are very safe and have had all of them so far. However, the last one I had in November made me feel very rough, (had the flu jab at the same time), Since then I've not been feeling normal and have had 2 bouts of flu like symptoms with a cough that's lingered for weeks now.

Perhaps it's actually been covid, maybe the flu and the vaccines saved me from getting worse, but I'm reluctant to get another covid jab after the last one made me feel so sh*t for so long.

 

One friend's daughter has suffered from extreme fatigue which the doctor's believe is long covid. As, to her knowledge, she never caught covid it has been put down to the vaccine. The dr mentioned that he had heard of similar cases but there was no current cure. Poor thing had to drop out of university as she just can't concentrate for even short spells. My work colleague's wife is exactly the same. Severe lethargic spates which are debilitating. Both of their symptoms came on days after receiving the vaccine but could be from unknowingly catching covid or some unrelated virus ....

https://www.science.org/content/art...avirus-vaccines-may-cause-long-covid-symptoms

 

I’ve had a very similar period of health or otherwise, though it was months after the booster, so I don’t associate it with it. I can certainly identify with repeated bouts of respiratory unwellness and persistent coughs. My guess is either another episode of Covid or just catching up on what I missed out on during social distancing or both.

The vaccine can certainly make you feel rough. Felt like shyte for 3 or 4 days after the first in 2021.

 

Very hard with extreme fatigue to pinpoint causes. It has always been present in the student population and that’s with absolutely no joke intended.

The daughter would have done incredibly well to avoid Covid at university though if her studies were recent. Really rough to have to drop out.

 

This sums up my thoughts well.

 

I've had the vaccine and all boosters and had no problems. Also tested positive for Covid 2 or 3 times with no symptoms. Mrs Lloyd puts this down to my blood's high gin content

 

Yes, likewise with me and even more so Mrs Keighley. I think there is a 'lot of it about' (as they used to say).

 

A gin and tonic is at least one of your ‘five a day’. FACT.

 

Sheeple innit?

 

It's two of the five if you have a slice of lemon or lime with it.

 

I had my two jabs, but that is probably me done now. My 8 year old daughter hasn't had any and I don't feel inclined to get her jabbed. She's has exposure to Covid - my wife and I have both had it twice and on separate occasions so we have been a 'covid house' four times. I suspect my daughter has had some form of it, but she's 8 and collects a different cold or sniffle practically every other week anyway.

 

Had the first two and am not against vaccination at all in general, but I wouldn't have any further COVID jabs now.

 

I saw some chalk graffiti on a gate when I was on my walk by the Chess earlier that said 'the vaccine is deadly so I'm convinced that it is dangerous based on that.

 

I think that's definitely a challenging problem - given that some people get Covid and are completely asymptomatic, you can never be fully confident they didn't have it. I do find it incredibly unlikely that the vast majority haven't had it at least once by now, though.

Much like your friend's daughter I got the "brain fog" side effect (definitely contracted it) and it was pretty debilitating. I'd be in a conversation with people and then my brain would suddenly just turn off mid conversation and I'd zone out, sometimes even mid sentence. I think it took me about 9 months to get back a close to normal state and it's only been in the last month that I finally feel like I'm fully recovered from it.

On another topic, one of the main arguments against the vaccine I have seen is the concern that it has caused some people to develop pericarditis. This would seem to be a legitimate concern....until you consider that the pericarditis caused by the vaccine is almost invariably very mild. Compounding this, rates of pericarditis among the unvaccinated are somewhere in the range of 15 times higher than in the vaccinated, and have worse severity/outcomes.

I think this risk mitigation is something many people are quite poor at. The choice simply doesn't come down to the risk of getting vaccinated, with the discussion stopping there. The thing to consider Covid outcomes while vaccinated versus Covid outcomes while not vaccinated. Everyone is going contract Covid at multiple times during their lives at this point, if not dozens of times. Not getting vaccinated and then avoiding contracting Covid simply isn't an option. Anyone who is worried about getting mild pericarditis from the vaccine, but not worried about being 15 times more likely to get a more severe version when they inevitably catch Covid in the future, really needs to take a step back and look at the big picture.

 

I've had all the jabs and the only adverse effect was a dizzy and sleepy couple of days aftrr the last one. In June I tested positive for Covid and had a rough week. I'll take any further vaccine I'm offered.

 

For those that have had a bad reaction to the vaccine, I suspect they would have had a worse reaction if they got Covid. Don’t see any issue in taking vaccines tbh, they are hardly a new thing and have saved millions of lives

 

I had the first two and was planning on having my booster once the safe time period had elapsed (was it 6 months?). However, almost to the day 3 months after my 2nd they changed the minimum to 3 months because they were panicking about the new variant coming up to Christmas. Literally overnight they'd gone from telling me it was dangerous to have my booster for another 3 months, to texting me to get it asap or the world would explode.

I decided to wait for the original 6 months, but by that stage it'd all largely blown over and I didn't see the point.

If another deadly variant kicked off then I'd get a booster, but otherwise I'm happy with just the 2.

That said, I believe they're safe. I just don't think Covid is an issue for my age group.

 

'Anti-vax' is a strong term. I wouldn't say I am anti-vax, I have had the first two jabs when the government and their 'advisors' were using the media to scare the public into having them, whether that was by telling us if we don't have them we will kill our grandparents, we wouldn't be able to travel abroad and in some instances may face the possibility of being unemployed. If you're vulnerable, or have people around you that are vulnerable, then I don't blame anyone for taking them, and if I was in that situation I would probably have had all of my jabs.

I experienced heart palpitations a few days after having my second jab. That was enough to convince me not to have anymore. I have had COVID on two occasions (both after the jabs), the first was exactly the same as the flu and the second was a bad cold for a few days.

There is no way on earth I would allow my kids to have the jab. There are too many unanswered questions around the excess death rate and people are far too quick to say it's NOT due to vaccinations. An enquiry definitely needs to be launched.

 

Did have the necessary jabs when everything was running rife, and had no problems, but took the conscious decision to have neither Covid or flu jabs back in the autumn (am 54 so was offered both), and have been OK health wise through the winter to date.

 

Interesting to read a number of people saying they had the original vaccines and a booster but wouldn’t have any more now. I think this is fine at the moment if nothing changes, but one thing that has dropped off the news agenda (understandably) is anything about new variants. The last I remember hearing was when China finally opened up and they had a surge of infections, so it was felt likely that more variants would emerge. It’s always been stated that one of these could evade the vaccine and become a problem, so vaccines always have to be continually developed to keep up. Presumably the WHO or whoever are continually monitoring the situation but we haven’t heard if anybody still thinks this is a potential danger. If it were to turn out to be so, I suppose we would all be clamouring for an updated vaccine again.

 

Whilst the vaccines themselves were relatively untested before roll out, the science behind them, was solid.

I know of no one suffering affects caused by the vaccine but I know of two people, who have been affected by Long covid. both health workers, both contracted before getting the vaccine. One still has zero sense of smell and has had some heart/circulatory issues the other still suffers the classic LC symptoms lethargy, breathlessness etc. Not able to stand for too long etc.

Any medicine will have some side effects in some people. The numbers and risks are far far lower than not taking them. Those that have suffered may have not suvived a bout of Covid without having the vaccine.

Thankfully it's looks like the more recent strains are less deadly. The vaccines played an important role in us getting through the era of more virulent strains.

 

Yup. This and the lack of understand the quality of sources, I'd argue, is one of the greatest threats to democracy and one of the greatest causes of issues in our society.

 

Clonical trials are very expensive and are normally done in sequence so that if one stage fails the others don't take place. With Covid the gamble was taken of doing the trials simultaneously. No corners were cut; the trade-off was financial risk.