Social Question

omtatsat's avatar

What really motivated you to get the Covid vaccine?

Asked by omtatsat (1232points) October 6th, 2021

Be honest. Was it for your health and the health of others? Or was it really because you were pushed into it by your place of work or travel requirements or peer pressure or because you wanted to go to a restaurant etc etc. And if not for these pressures would you have vaccinated?

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153 Answers

RedDeerGuy1's avatar

Just wanted praise and adoration from my pharmacy.

Demosthenes's avatar

Mostly possible travel requirements and not wanting to wear a mask anymore, which was promised at the time. And stories of healthy young people dying freaked me out.

Dutchess_III's avatar

Common sense. I’m just smart like that.

SavoirFaire's avatar

For my health and the health of others. It’s why I get every vaccine I possibly can (including annual flu shots). It’s also why I’m still wearing masks everywhere.

P.S. The restaurants around here don’t require any proof of vaccination status, nor do they even ask about it. But I’m still not planning to go to one for at least another year.

zenvelo's avatar

I didn’t want to die from not doing something so easy.

canidmajor's avatar

For my health and the health of others. I am under no pressure from anyone, I made up my very own mind all by myself! I have friends that work in the medical field, some in research, they are much more reliable information resources than some miscellaneous uneducated-in-the-field person on the internet.

SavoirFaire's avatar

This question seems a little bit like “Be honest: are you a decent person or a sociopath?”

SQUEEKY2's avatar

The thought of
laying in a ICU bed, on a ventilator didn’t turn me on.

janbb's avatar

@SavoirFaire Or when did you stop beating your wife?

elbanditoroso's avatar

My health was #1 priority.

Extended family was #2 priority

Everybody else – a distant third.

Hawaii_Jake's avatar

I don’t want to die when a remedy is so stupidly simple. I’m getting a Pfizer booster tomorrow.

janbb's avatar

After a year of worrying and semi-isolation, it was a no-brainer to line up for a potential remedy.

And you @omtatsat, why did you get the vaccine? Be honest now.

KNOWITALL's avatar

My mom is still going through chemo, and I didn’t want to risk infecting her. Same with my elderly in-laws, friends and family.

And like @SQUEEKY2, ass up with a vent in my back in a diaper on liquids is not how I want to live or die.

I would do it for others, sure, but that was not my primary motivation as I worked from home before most so I wasn’t really exposed or exposing others.

The way the shot was presented in America and all the misinformation, plus trying to keep up with scheduling for your age group, missing work to get it then going back for shot two, was a bit of a mess.

product's avatar

I suppose my motivations included the desire…

- to not die from drowning in my own juices for no reason
– to not needlessly spread the virus and kill people
– to return to some sense of normalcy (the potential for herd immunity, etc)
– to not be a sociopath

I wanted the vaccine as soon as I could get it, and it was really tough to get an appointment at first. I’m a bit puzzled that you talk about “pressure”.

@omtatsat: “Or was it really because you were pushed into it by your place of work”

Unfortunately, vaccination is not required here at work. No pressure here, unfortunately.

@omtatsat: “or travel requirements”

No pressure there either. Any travel I do has not had any vaccination restrictions, although they should.

@omtatsat: “or peer pressure”

I’d like to think that if I decided to want to kill people by not getting the vaccine that my “peers” would be concerned that I had lost my mind.

@omtatsat: ”or because you wanted to go to a restaurant etc etc.”

We’ve been going to restaurants the whole time and there are no vaccine requirements here, although there should be.

Where do you live? And what was your motivation?

Jeruba's avatar

I was not pushed at all and didn’t need to be. There was just no question or doubt. Concern for my own health and that of my family came first. I jumped at the chance to get the vacc the first day it became available for my age group in my area.

I would not have needed to be pushed—I get my flu shots promptly every year and have had the shingles vacc and pneumovax—and in fact, I was one of a test group of elementary school students who got the polio vacc in the epidemic of the 1950s. I would rather take my chances with the shot than with an insidious virus.

ragingloli's avatar

For my health, obiously.

RedDeerGuy1's avatar

I had my flu shot today. It was on my chore list. Am double vaccinated for Covid. Busy day today for me. I am on a roll. Most of my chores are done.

chyna's avatar

I was hoping to sleep with Dr. Fauci.

longgone's avatar

Nobody pressured me, and I could have worked, traveled, and eaten out without getting the shot. I got vaccinated because I wanted to

1) worry less about getting sick and
2) worry less about getting my family sick

Covid hit my family after everyone over 16 was fully vaccinated, and I don’t like to wonder what might have happened to my grandma if we had been affected earlier. My cousin, who is 15, just barely scraped by without hospitalization.

canidmajor's avatar

Ooh, @chyna, can I come too???

janbb's avatar

^^ Don’t push it. He’s an elderly man and we need him!

flutherother's avatar

For the obvious reason – fear of catching covid. I would like to keep my lungs in working order for a few more years.

Pied_Pfeffer's avatar

Zero desire of catching COVID or spreading it. If the vaccination helps, I’m for it. A mask is still worn, and hands are washed with alarming frequency. Call it obsessive, but I haven’t been sick yet.

Kropotkin's avatar

For my health and that of others.

Because of my work, it was offered a few months sooner than it would otherwise have been, and I booked an appointment for the vaccination immediately.

Zaku's avatar

For heath… of course?

I have no other pressures.

I did not want to take my chances with COVID. It’s just a vaccine, and millions of people took it before me. And it was free. And I’m not an idiot Fox News watcher. So why would I have a reason not to?

SQUEEKY2's avatar

Duh,I don’t know @Zaku Horse dewormer,or pool cleaner sounds safer than an evil vaccine.

rebbel's avatar

It was part of our S&M game.

jca2's avatar

I haven’t read the previous answers.

I got the vaccine because I wanted it for my health, number one. Being part of a healthy community was important but not my first priority.

JLeslie's avatar

Once I saw millions received it safely the first month it was released on the US market I went to get my shots (and brought my husband too) so I could go back to doing all of my fun activities that I missed so much, and to be with my other vaccinated friends without masks on. My husband was a little more wary, but he went along with what I said and also worried about being around his parents in their 80’s who live a few hours away, but if we ever went to visit.

My primary reason was protecting myself, but a side benefit was helping to protect others. Especially, the mom of one of my closest friends where I live (she’s 94) and my own relatives if I ever get to see them again. At the time I thought I would see them this fall, but now it’s delayed.

I’m always aware that I am SURROUNDED by people who are at high risk. Anyone who lives where I live and doesn’t take the risk to others seriously is really horrible in my opinion, because the risk is so blaring here. If they don’t want a shot then they should distance and wear a mask at minimum when around others. The majority of people in my town are vaccinated.

Tropical_Willie's avatar

My health and others.

Know three people before vaccinations that died.

JLeslie's avatar

I really don’t understand why some people aren’t taking this Q at face value. Why razz the OP. Do you not believe it is an honest curiosity?

The OP on other Q’s has seemed reluctant about accepting covid as a seriously health risk and wary of the health previsions governments and businesses have put in place, and wary of the vaccines.

People not getting vaccinated might be assuming incorrectly why vaccinated people took the shot, so asking is how they find out why. Asking is way better than assuming.

Some people in the US are finally getting vaccinated because their jobs are insisting. That’s not some sort of stupid question. Someone I know who is very politically liberal and lives in Michigan still has not been vaccinated and said “he might eventually have to if his job makes him.” All of us on the zoom were shocked he was not vaccinated yet.

gondwanalon's avatar

My motivation was entirely selfish. I love living. I’m going to miss this wonderful garden Earth when I die.
I signed up to get the Fauci ouchi at the earliest possible date and had to weight in line for 7 weeks.

One reason that perhaps a lot of folks don’t want the SARS-Cov-2 vaccine is due to needle phobia. Some people never go to the doctor because they fear needles. Perhaps some people who claim religious reasons for not getting vaccinated are really simply afraid of needles and don’t want to admit it.

smudges's avatar

As @flutherother said: For the obvious reason – fear of catching covid.

@product@omtatsat has steadfastly refused to reveal where he/she/it lives in a number of other questions.

Jeruba's avatar

@chyna, @canidmajor, @janbb, I’ve seen Dr. Fauci referred to as “the thinking woman’s sex object.” Sounds good to me.

tent's avatar

My health. I have a lung disease so I’m frightened to take my chance with Covid.

Mimishu1995's avatar

@smudges my guess is he is in Switzerland.

To answer the question: because I want to be rid of the virus once and for all without having to quarantine every time a new spreader is found.

Mimishu1995's avatar

@janbb And you @omtatsat, why did you get the vaccine?

He doesn’t, most likely.

gorillapaws's avatar

Mostly it was to protect my parents an my in-laws due to their age, and secondarily myself, my wife and my friends/neighbors/fellow human beings who I undoubtedly subject to unseen particles emanating from my nose/mouth. I want to see this fucking thing go the way of polio, so I was more than happy to do my part.

kritiper's avatar

My work prompted me to get the vaccine. I own and operate my own business and can’t afford to not work.

Brian1946's avatar

@Mimishu1995

“my guess is he is in Switzerland.”

Do you mean the part of Switzerland, where the Ganges flows through Alps? :p

I think there’s a good chance that he lives in India, or a lesser one that he lives in Bangladesh.

But for all I know, the image in his avatar could be a vacation photo.

I’d lmao if he does live in Switzerland, Vietnam, or California.
For all I know, the background in his photo could be Catalina Island. :p

Or, after numerous inquiries, he might finally answer, “Your attic. :D”.

omtatsat's avatar

@product I have decined the vaccination. And I live in Europe

Mimishu1995's avatar

@Brian1946 I’m going to check my attic tonight. If you don’t hear back from me then you know :(

product's avatar

@omtatsat: “I have decined the vaccination.”

Fascinating. I’m really curious what would have caused you to decline it. Can you explain?

janbb's avatar

@Brian1946 The OP has made several references to Switzerland in other questions. It’s not a hard reach.

Brian1946's avatar

@Mimishu1995

If your attic is in Europe, please be VERY careful! ;-o

janbb's avatar

But we digress.

I’d like the answer to @product‘s question too.

ragingloli's avatar

My money is on antivaxxer.

product's avatar

@ragingloli – That’s a term with little explanatory power. It’s also lazy.

@Mimishu1995 – It wasn’t.

I’d like to think that @omtatsat would be willing to explain the reasoning behind declining the vaccination – especially since we were all willing to honestly explain our motivations for getting the vaccine.

I’ll give @omtatsat some time to respond before I make any assumptions. I’m genuinely curious.

bob_'s avatar

Survival instinct.

filmfann's avatar

I probably would have wanted the vaccine even if I hadn’t been stuck on that cruise ship.
Getting the vaccine is good for society and the government. Squashing the virus is important for me to be able to see my grandkids again, and for everyone to be safe.
It’s just common sense, which sadly isn’t common anymore.

omtatsat's avatar

@product I have never been a fan of vaccines at any time and I remain so. And I simply don’t feel the need to get this vaccine.

product's avatar

^ I’m going to have to make some very big assumptions if you are unable or unwilling to answer the question. Any interest in explaining why you have “never been a fan of vaccines” or didn’t “feel the need to get this vaccine”?

This should be very easy for you, but if you want, I can provide some choices that will allow you to minimize your typing efforts. Maybe a multiple choice will be easier:

a) I don’t feel as though vaccines work.
b) I have religious beliefs that preclude me from using modern medicine.
c) I’m distrustful of modern medicine and feel that corporations are attempting to poison me.
d) I’d prefer that viruses wipe out large portions of the planet’s population because I’m not really a fan of people.
e) I’m a bit depressed, want to die, but am a bit nervous about some of my options, so catching Covid and the chance of drowning in my own juices is an attractive choice.
f) I am convinced that vaccines and modern medicine can replace my testicles with small GPS devices that send my thoughts to marketing companies.
g) I have a crippling fear of needles.
h) If I get the vaccine, which would help protect my health and the health of everyone around me, the libs would win.
i) I’m fond of the disruption Covid has caused, and I don’t want to go back to anything resembling pre-Covid times.

This is not an exclusive set of options, so I apologize if I haven’t provided an option that summarizes your position on the issue. However, you should be able to explain what you mean if it’s something else. Thanks.

janbb's avatar

@product You left out one: I’ll be protected if everyone else around me gets vaccinated so I don’t have to do my part.

product's avatar

@product: “This is not an exclusive set of options, so..”

*exhaustive

A couple more options:

j) I’ll be protected if everyone else around me gets vaccinated so I don’t have to do my part. (Thanks @janbb)
k) I don’t know. I guess I haven’t really thought about this enough.

@omtatsat – I just want to add that if your answer is k, keep in mind that thoughtful people and entire disciplines concerned with individual and global health have done that thinking, research, and science for you. And you really should get vaccinated.

That said, I have confidence in you to return to this thread shortly with an answer. Thanks!

gorillapaws's avatar

@omtatsat Are you a fan of Polio? Tuberculosis? Mumps? Whooping Cough?

omtatsat's avatar

@product I answered the question. Possibly you can’t accept what I said as an answer.

product's avatar

@omtatsat: “I answered the question.”

You most definitely did not answer the question.

“I’ve never been a fan of vaccines”? That’s just a rephrasing of “I have decined the vaccination.”. It doesn’t answer the question in any possible way. Remember, the question was asking why.

I suspect this question is making you uncomfortable, and I understand your hesitancy to answer it because it makes you vulnerable to criticism. But you were the one that presented the question to us, and when I simply asked it to you, you suddenly became quiet.

So, please answer the question. I even gave you a multiple choice option if typing is too difficult for you.

product's avatar

I’m beginning to suspect @omtatsat is fully-vaccinated (plus booster) and trolling.

omtatsat's avatar

@product There are certain things in life that makes one say ” I need that or I want that ”. And with the vaccine I say ” I don’t need that nor do I wan’t that ” .

product's avatar

^ So, your answer is “k) I don’t know. I guess I haven’t really thought about this enough.”.

If you’re being honest and came to your decision via ignorance of science, modern medicine, and the ethics of your actions, I urge you to find the energy to figure out why you are so disinterested in these things (and the suffering of others).

KNOWITALL's avatar

@omtatsat If you come to visit the US just stay south. You may get Covid and die, but no one wears masks and many are anti-vaxxers.
I live in Missouri and another child died recently from Covid. But ya know….freedom.

Mimishu1995's avatar

@product if I have to go for a wild guess here, I think it has something to do with i. He posted some questions about the upside of Covid.

JLeslie's avatar

I know someone else who lives in Switzerland and she said there is quite a bit of reluctance about the vaccine in her country. Many people there feel it’s a money grab according to her.

Let’s face it, the terrorists pushing division and misinformation are targeting more than just America, it’s in Europe and Asia too. It’s across social media.

The White Supremacists groups are now connected across the world. Russia and China seek power economically and in other ways.

Mimishu1995's avatar

@JLeslie I think it’s less about terrorism and more about people reading something on FB and not using their head.

Where I live people have been spreading misinformation for ages. Most of those behind it are either attention seekers who want 1 minute of fame or online “shops” that need more eyes on their pages. Very few people are actual rebels with ulterior motive.

JLeslie's avatar

@Mimishu1995 Domestic and foreign terrorist are putting the information on Facebook and then people pass it around. Some people might not use the word terrorist, but I would argue any group trying to destroy the fabric of a country by promoting hate and destructive behaviors are terrorist groups.

Most people sucked into the propaganda don’t understand where the messaging originates, they are just sucked in blindly and helping the terrorists.

Here’s a link https://www.interpol.int/en/News-and-Events/News/2020/INTERPOL-Terrorist-groups-using-COVID-19-to-reinforce-power-and-influence

Mimishu1995's avatar

@JLeslie I’m not discounting the possibility. Here we have groups that actually try to promote hate and chaos too that was what happened in 2014 when the South China Sea dispute happened. I’m just saying that from my observation, I see misinformation being spread by petty individuals with petty motive than those actual hate groups. Every time someone I know talk about some ridiculous conspiracy theory or a drama on the Internet over nothing, the root almost always traces back to an attention seeker.

Maybe that’s just my country though. I think that is the result of the government’s crackdown on opposite groups since 2020. All the known hate groups have been public knowledge and is mostly frown upon. People are now less inclined to believe in things from those hate groups remember the American-Vietnamese insult? But in the back of a lot of people’s mind, there is still some sort of distrust for the government. So when a person who look like they are just another ordinary citizen who just happens to stumble upon a shocking “truth” shows up, then hell yeah! That’s totally believable!

So yeah, that’s just the situation in my country. I don’t know what’s happening in the US or anywhere else.

JLeslie's avatar

@Mimishu1995 We have those individuals here too who really have no idea what they are doing, just passing along crazy talk on social media, but part of what influences them and gives them their crazy ideas are influencers who use social media to promote various conspiracy ideas.

Mimishu1995's avatar

@JLeslie interesting. Here most misinformation follows one pattern: something really happens, maybe serious but most of the time mundane. Someone sees it and thinks it would be a great idea to make it more dramatic than it seems. They post an outrageous post on FB, usually with their own comment on how outrageous it is or how we should all “take action”. And the news spreads out from here. Sometimes there will be people who claim to be the “insiders” and add more outrageous information. It gets to the point where it’s impossible to know what is real anymore.

Sometimes influencers do get involved, but it’s mostly when the news has already spread far and wide and they are just cash in on it.

JLeslie's avatar

Right now there is a story being passed around in the US on Facebook that is a lie. Similar to what you describe. This isn’t a vaccine story, but it’s the same mindset. Here it is:

Both my kids and another student were removed from class today and sent to the office for wearing Carhartt hoodies, hi-vis construction hoodie, bootcut jeans (without rips), and romeo shoes. The kids were told by staff at Bethel High School that their clothes were “too republican”, “too country”, “white supremacists” and “racist”. I fail to see a problem with these clothes. Meanwhile, other students wear spiked collars to school and dress as “furries” for attention or show too much skin. I am genuinely confused.
#pissedoffmomma

Here’s the truth: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/10/07/bethel-high-school-carhartt/%3famp?fbclid=IwAR0yAXZD8-p14j4dN3qkDv-2dYVBaWwL-TSlqHaag9gMgkuZybNDaX3REns

omtatsat's avatar

Slowly this society is drifting into being a society of vaccine ” junkies ”. With some just hanging out for the next shot.

SQUEEKY2's avatar

The only thing addicting to a vaccine is ,not ending up in an ICU bed on ventilator.

omtatsat's avatar

There are many other ways of ending up in an ICU bed. Covid being just one of them.

SQUEEKY2's avatar

That has to be the weakest argument I have heard yet!^^
But you’re right you could get polio,or small pox, oh wait there is vaccine for those.
I don’t get why so many are scared shitless of this vaccine,that they would rather risk getting C19 than getting the vaccine,I simply don’t get it.

Mimishu1995's avatar

@omtatsat so the vaccine is addictive now? The last time you said vaccine was a giant experiment on the vulnerable, and then you said you just had a feeling it’s not for you, and now this? Make up your mind.

gorillapaws's avatar

@omtatsat If being a fan of not hurting other human beings makes me a junky, then I’m guilty as charged. Though I’m not sure what the label for people who are into hurting other people is? Sociopath? Sadist? A sick fuck?

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Brian1946's avatar

What motivated me, is that it’s a relatively painless and free way to protect myself and others, from a potentially fatal disease.

What motivates me is that it’s a disease I want to see thoroughly eradicated from our planet.
I want to see it die in a sea of immunized humanity, just as smallpox and polio have.

By avoiding hospitalization, I won’t be occupying a bed that might be needed by someone who needs unavoidable urgent care.
An Alabama man died from cardiac arrest, because there were NO beds available in any of the 43 ICU’s in his area; many of them were occupied by UNVACCINATED Covid patients.

For those reasons, I want the mandates and I’m glad that I live in the state with the lowest case rate in the US.

What “pressured” me to get the vaccinations is the desire to avoid catching Covid.

Hell, I even take extra measures to avoid catching a cold.
Because of the precautions we’ve been taking here, I haven’t had a cold or any other respiratory illness since March, 2018.

@omtatsat

Would you get a vaccination if it gave you 100% protection from a highly transmissible, 100% fatal, worldwide disease?

Tropical_Willie's avatar

Not end up in the hospital.

My wife was at the dentist Thursday and the dentist said her husband, who is chief surgeon at the local medical center/hospital told her, “100% of the patients in isolation for COVID-19 and ICU were unvaccinated, a couple would not last until Sunday”

SQUEEKY2's avatar

@Tropical_Willie I have my wife and other family members in health care and they say the same thing,90 to 100% of people in hospital with Covid19 are unvaccinated, the news up here says the same thing but fright wing and antivaxxers say oh no it’s the opposite .

WHAT is peoples problem with this vaccine?

smudges's avatar

Slowly this society is drifting into being a society of vaccine ” junkies ”. With some just hanging out for the next shot.

Yeah man, like, fer sure. Gimme a dose of that next vaccine, it’s the only reason I stick around on this planet.

ragingloli's avatar

Y’all owe me money.

omtatsat's avatar

I guess if I could get more serious about the whole ” covid thing ” then it might be different. As one person once said about the pandemic -” is this really happening?”

Mimishu1995's avatar

So you are convinced it’s not happening?

Mimishu1995's avatar

Then why are you quoting that someone?

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omtatsat's avatar

As far as I am concerned it’s my body and my life and I choose not to vaccinate. I have never been one for such things as vaccinations and I will never be. And as far as I can see once one starts with vaccines then it never ends.

smudges's avatar

@omtatsat <<shrugs>> As they say, “Ignorance is bliss”. I’m guessing you’re one happy camper.

KNOWITALL's avatar

@omtatsat Many of us have got it who were hesitant. It’ll be interesting to discuss in 5–10 years as it plays out. May the odds be ever in your favor.

omtatsat's avatar

@smudges Yes. I love camping.

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SavoirFaire's avatar

@omtatsat “As far as I am concerned it’s my body and my life and I choose not to vaccinate.”

And that’s your right. But it’s also our right to tell you that your decision is based on a complete lack of reason. You have a right to be unreasonable, but that doesn’t mean that it is right to be unreasonable.

“And as far as I can see once one starts with vaccines then it never ends.”

But the only thing this sentence could mean is “once science figures out a way to protect me from one thing, it just keeps doing it over and over again in a continuous cycle of improving both personal and global health outcomes.” What exactly is your problem with that?

“Whether one is vaccinated or not one can carry and spread the virus. And I certainly don’t see myself as having any right to spread the virus.”

This is a non sequitur. Vaccinated people can spread the virus, but they are less likely to do so. So that’s another way that the vaccine can help us mitigate the effects of COVID-19.

Jeruba's avatar

Maybe we should reinvent leper colonies as covid colonies—not for people who have covid but for people who won’t vaccinate. Separate them from those of us who take safety measures for ourselves and others. Let them contaminate each other to their heart’s content.

Jeruba's avatar

Thanks. It seems to me that they are counting on us to do their share of the lifting. They don’t want to get covid, but they want to indulge the desire to stage a protest, like the folks who voted for Brexit or Trump because they wanted to make a point while believing it would never get enough votes to pass. As long as enough of us do get vaccines and wear masks, they’re relatively safe. Let them be stuck in a community that’s all just like them. I hope they love it and keep away from the rest of us.

omtatsat's avatar

@Jeruba I pray for the sake of your friends that they are all vaccinated

rebbel's avatar

Praying doesn’t do jackshit.
Taking the Covid-19 vaccination does.

Dutchess_III's avatar

….I’m praying right now for @omtstsat to get the vaccine.

KNOWITALL's avatar

@omtatsat So is it religious hesitation?

That one confuses me, too, as one of the Ten Commandments is ‘do not kill.’

Dutchess_III's avatar

Did he get it yet?

KNOWITALL's avatar

@Dutchess_III Doubtful. A lot of these people don’t see any shades of grey, just black and white.
I love to actually talk to people about it, there’s a lot of misinformation spread around out there.
Here, they’d punch you in the eye while screaming Freedom.

Dutchess_III's avatar

But I prayed really hard!

omtatsat's avatar

Do you vaxxers still share the company of your friends who are not vaxxed? Or do you shun them?

JLeslie's avatar

@omtatsat Semi-shun. I won’t go to dinner with them or spend a lot of time less than 10 feet from them. I don’t like to be indoors with them. I wind up indoors with some unvaccinated people, but it bothers me.

omtatsat's avatar

@JLeslie And how do you know who is vaxxed and who not. As far as I am concerned it’s none of your business to ask someone whether he/she is vaxxed or not.

chyna's avatar

Yes it is her business. It’s my business and anyone else who doesn’t want to get Covid.

product's avatar

@omtatsat: “Do you vaxxers still share the company of your friends who are not vaxxed? Or do you shun them?”

I don’t know anyone who hasn’t been vaccinated since April. After the initial difficulty in getting an appointment, there is no reason anyone should still be struggling to find a vaccination (here in the US, anyway).

If I were to come in contact with someone who doesn’t value the health and safety of me and my loved ones, I wouldn’t associate with them. I certainly wouldn’t be friends with them.

jca2's avatar

If you ask someone if they’ve been vaccinated, it’s definitely within their rights not to answer. It’s definitely within my rights, then, not to hang out with them.

omtatsat's avatar

@chyna There are hundreds of diseases you can get from the contact with others. Will you lock yourself in the house? I have no fear. Certainly no fear from unvaccinated

flutherother's avatar

@omtatsat There used to be hundreds of awful diseases you could get from others but thanks to modern hygiene methods, public health campaigns and vaccination programmes they are very much rarer than before.

Mimishu1995's avatar

@omtatsat there are hundreds of diseases I can get from others, but I make sure to protect myself whenever I can. I know not to come near anyone who has a contagious disease, or at least wear masks so that I don’t catch the disease from their coughing. And vaccination is one way to protect myself.

At least if I do get the disease, I have no regret because I do everything I can in my power and not ignore necessary precautions.

product's avatar

@omtatsat: “I have no fear.”

Correction…

@omtatsat: “I have no concern for others.”

product's avatar

And technically, @omtatsat – you’re exhibiting a great amount of fear. You’ve decided to avoid modern medicine in one particular case because you’re afraid of it. You’re terrified, and are paralyzed in fear. Your attempts to project your fear onto others is embarrassing.

KNOWITALL's avatar

I’m not starting another post with your name, simply because I don’t want this to appear to be bullying. It’s your choice and I respect that.

That being said, I don’t shun my friends or family who have chosen not to get the vaccine, but I do try to keep a distance or meet outdoors, if possible. My biggest concern is protecting my mother and other seniors in my life.

Dutchess_III's avatar

I don’t shun anyone. I am pleased to announce my son and his wife finally got vaccinated, and so did both of my daughters. They were holding out for whatever ridiculous reason, but their intelligence won out in the end.

JLeslie's avatar

@omtatsat My closest friends and family we all told each other when we got vaccinated.

Hell yes I ask people if they are vaccinated if they are near me for any length of time. If they don’t answer I assume they aren’t.

Of course I can ask, and it is absolutely my business to try to protect my health. Why do you care if I ask you? You think it’s rude? The way I see it, it’s bad etiquette to risk killing me. If you aren’t vaccinated I hope you aren’t coming close to me, that would be rude. Or, I guess maybe you think if I’m high risk I should just go hide in my house.

product's avatar

I’m still about 95% convinced that @omtatsat has been vaccinated since April and is just fucking with us. The short responses are really the giveaway. He’s not playing the role convincingly enough.

Jeruba's avatar

@product, I wonder how @omtatsat feels about informing a partner when a person has an STD.

@omtatsat, I think it’s my absolute right to ask someone near me if they’ve been vaccinated. Their prejudices and follies don’t place an obligation on me. They don’t have to answer, but then, I don’t have to associate with them. How much consideration and courteous restraint do I owe to someone who doesn’t care about doing me harm?

KNOWITALL's avatar

And I would never question anyone about being vaxxed, friend, family or other. That would be considered rude here, like all health matters.

omtatsat's avatar

A person who is vaccinated should not have to worry about whether the people around him/her are vaccinated or not. What’s the point of your vaccination then? Or don’t you have full trust in the vaccine?

Mimishu1995's avatar

Discussion about the effectiveness of vaccination aside, we are worried about people who don’t vaccinate more because we are concerned about their health than our own. You can already see here that a lot of people take the vaccine because they want to protect their loved ones apart from themselves. Not everyone here is so self-absorbed they think they are the only one matters.

Mimishu1995's avatar

Look, it’s not like I’m calling everyone who is against the vaccine idiots or anything. I know at least two people who express doubt about the vaccine. And yet I’m still good friends of them. Why? Because they are kind people who are concerned about others and don’t express any disagreement about others’ choice to be vaccinated. One of them even told me they hoped the vaccines would be available to everyone who needs it. They just choose not to take the vaccine because of different personal reasons, and they don’t expect others to agree with them.

You, on the other hand, are actively calling out people who are vaccinated as if you just discovered some mind-blowing secret of life and the rest of us are idiots for blindly following the vaccinated sheep. And your attitude is “as long as I don’t get the virus, it doesn’t matter”. You can’t expect us to understand you if you think you are holier than us and don’t respect our choice.

omtatsat's avatar

@Mimishu1995 I do respect your choice. But when some ( not saying you ) vaccinated regard the unvaccinated as lepers or something similar to that, then for such people my respect rapidly vanishes.

JLeslie's avatar

@omtatsat In the US there are “a lot” of breakthrough cases among older people, they probably never received high immunity from the vaccine, and the virus spreads quickly among the unvaccinated. People don’t know if they are very well protected or not. Vaccinated people don’t catch covid as easily as unvaccinated from what I have read and personally observed, but for those vaccinated who never spiked good immunity they are unprotected like the unvaccinated.

This isn’t a huge surprise. The dose for flu vaccine is higher for people over 65 because of the same problem.

Many of the other illnesses we have vaccinated for didn’t have this same problem. When measles vaccine came out people over a certain age weren’t even vaccinated, because they were assumed to have had it as a child. Same with chicken pox. When smallpox vaccine was introduced everyone was expected to get vaccinated.

Measles actually had a lot of breakthrough cases initially, so they introduced doing a second shot to boost immunity and that worked well. We still have breakthrough cases of measles, but probably we could eradicate it from the world if over 90% of the people in the world were vaccinated. Same with polio. Gates foundation is trying. In countries that are over 90% vaccinated for those diseases you don’t see the illnesses unless a foreigner brings it in or someone traveling and the illness self limits because it hits immunity walls in the population.

KNOWITALL's avatar

@omtatsat Same. A bit excessive.

Dutchess_III's avatar

I’m just glad we don’t have that kind of drama here. No body harassed others about masks or vaccines (except within the immediate family.)

KNOWITALL's avatar

@Dutchess_III I won’t lie, we vaxxed family had a conversation about it, but we decided since we were all vaxxed, we’d still hang out with the unvaxxed, but we had to wait a full week each time to make sure no one got sick or showed symptoms to be around mom again. She’s worth it.

omtatsat's avatar

Does anybody remember how the AIDS people were persecuted. They could not even find a job. Any difference here with this vaccinated/not vaccinated thing? I doubt it

Tropical_Willie's avatar

Trolling again

chyna's avatar

@omtatsat The difference is that Covid is air borne and with aids you had to swap bodily fluids. Also, there was no vaccine for aids.

product's avatar

@omtatsat: “Does anybody remember how the AIDS people were persecuted. They could not even find a job. Any difference here with this vaccinated/not vaccinated thing? I doubt it”

Ok, he’s 100% just a troll. This is beyond silly.

Otherwise, if this is someone who has experienced a traumatic brain injury, I’d like to know.

KNOWITALL's avatar

@omtatsat “AIDS People” is very rude language to use. Troll or sincere, you can do better.

omtatsat's avatar

@KNOWITALL Those who had AIDS/HIV were and still are discriminated against.

JLeslie's avatar

People with HIV can’t just breath on me and get me sick. WTH? It’s not the same. People with HIV were discriminated against in some industries and companies. Thankfully, not discriminated against in the one I worked in during the 80’s and 90’s when lots of people were sick and dying.

Thousands of people died in my state this past summer from covid. People are dying because they were too close to a sick person. Not having sex or a needle stick, just standing there breathing.

Mimishu1995's avatar

@omtatsat no one is denying that. It’s just how you are calling them “AIDS people” doesn’t help their case either.

I can kind of understand if English isn’t your second language, but are you seriously calling them “AIDS people” while simultaneously making a point?

omtatsat's avatar

@Mimishu1995 Point taken. Those with AIDS/HIV…...........

KNOWITALL's avatar

@omtatsat I think you may have started off on the wrong foot, especially as we don’t know you.

Maybe share some more about you on less intense questions sometime?
If there’s a language barrier, we are happy to help but you don’t want everyone thinking you’re unkind if it’s just language usage.
I’m still giving you the benefit of the doubt. :D

JLeslie's avatar

People say diabetics, Jews, Blacks, alcoholics, all of which aren’t as nice as people with diabetes, Jewish people Black people, etc. Being so sensitive about how something is worded, it’s just a teaching moment, no need to ream a jelly who is not even communicating in his primary language.

Mimishu1995's avatar

@JLeslie a lot of jellies here assume that he is from the US or at least an English-speaking country, seeing how many US users here. There are few people who learn English as a foreign language like me. Even I still bump into problems sometimes.

JLeslie's avatar

He’s Swiss, or lives in Switzerland anyway.

Mimishu1995's avatar

Yeah, but some of us aren’t aware of it. He never said that, he just mentions Switzerland in passing in his threads. Some of us may miss that.

omtatsat's avatar

@KNOWITALL I’m an Australian born “Ocker.“English is my first language. German my second as I live now in Switzerland. But as I said, I don’t have a degree in journalism.

JLeslie's avatar

Oh Australian. So, we can still say English with an American dialect is a foreign language. Lol.

KNOWITALL's avatar

@omtatsat Cool, I don’t think we have many Ocker’s on this site (hope I used that correctly), so that will be a great new perspective. :) Welcome.

*I’ve taken journalism my entire life, from 7th grade newspaper on and I write scripts sometimes still now. But I try really hard not to correct anyone, as they usually don’t appreciate it. PM if you ever want a chat.

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