With love and respect to a very dear friend,
I'm glad to hear the recent FDA approval is changing some of the calculus behind your vaccination decision. You are a beloved friend and I want to help change that calculus further so I put a little time and consideration into this response and have removed all of the fire. You made a number of points in your comments that deserve addressing, so here goes:
1) Covid is not in any way comparable to the flu. In Alberta more people died of Covid in just 10 months than 20 years worth of flu deaths.
2) Your concern about being 1/120,000 or whatever that has an adverse effect to the vaccine is not without merit however I 'm pretty sure the far greater and more likely danger is that you yourself will catch Covid and/or spread it to someone else (which, for a friend with a big heart like yours I know would be even worse). Right now you are 69% more likely than me to be hospitalized by Covid and 49% more likely to die of it. You could always say "well that's my risk to take," which would be true but as I mentioned before, no child under 12 has been vaccinated yet. This choice has repercussions.
3) Covid can only be in our rear view once Herd Immunity is achieved, which only happens in one of two ways: a sufficient percentage of the population is either infected or vaccinated against the disease. Herd immunity via infection would be a disaster of epic proportions, which means we're all stuck in this thing until enough of us have immunized.
This 4th Wave is largely the wave of the unvaccinated and jurisdictions like Alberta will almost certainly face another lockdown this fall because of it. As a vaccinated person that decision was made for me by the unvaccinated, who, friend or foe, at this phase are now the prime forces unnecessarily prolonging the Covid Era.
4) The other very real possibility is that yet another variant spins out of this entirely unnecessary 4th Wave (which is what a virus does given enough time & a decent percentage of the population to work with; it mutates into a new and more vicious beastie), against which our vaccine is either useless or greatly reduced in efficacy. Which means we're all back at square one again. All of us. As a vaccinated person, again, that decision will have been made for me by the unvaccinated.
5) Most people have opted to take the vaccine when offered. For all that remains, the world's governments have only 'carrot or stick' strategies they can employ. A vaccine lottery, for example, is the carrot. Policies like Covid passports etc are the stick. As we climb this entirely unnecessary 4th Wave (and what then, must we vaccinated also endure a 5th Wave? Why not a 6th?) I assure you the unvaccinated can only expect more stick & a global society that is increasingly less patient with this very small percentage of people whose decisions are impacting our wellbeing.
6) That wellbeing most certainly involves our dollars & cents. The math doesn't get any easier:
Covid = bad for the economy
Unvaxxed = prolonging Covid
Unvaxxed = bad for the economy
The word is in. Business almost universally wants the passport. It's an inevitable thing.
7) Finally (for now), in Alberta the number of unvaxxed Albertans in extreme distress have overwhelmed our hospitals past the point of disaster. Horrific decisions get made by docs & nurses about who gets treatment & who doesn't, 65 yr old heart attacks vs unvaxxed 40 yr olds.
So why's it anybody's business if you get vaxxed or not?
1) Prolongs Covid
2) Risks new variants
3) Endangers EVERY CHILD UNDER 12
4) Hurts the economy
5) Overwhelms our hospitals, endangering ALL of us
It's long past time to do the right thing. For all of us and for yourself too. If you have further questions over the coming days please feel free to ask & where/when possible I will give you my best understanding of it.
Your friend,
-Gent
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All for now and thanks for reading. If you feel like supporting the work I do on threads like this I can assure you it's *very* thirsty work & you can buy me a cold beverage of the adult nature through this here tip jar thinger and I thank you kindly:
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