Do you have friends who have declined to be vaccinated.........h ow do you deal with this (stay polite!)

No, everyone I know has had it even my DD who wasn’t keen and had bad side effects but she knew it was her duty to have it for the sake of everyone. The majority of people in hospital now are unvaccinated so I find it incredible that some people are more worried about the vaccine than they are about Covid! It’s illogical.

My son can’t have it for health reasons.
I would respect your friends opinions and choices who knows they could be proved right not to have further down the line.
I have had both of mine ,and I was ill for 2 weeks after the first dose so was dreading the second ,which was fine didn’t get any side effects .
My son almost died from flu vaccine in 2009.
It left him with long term disabilities
He had for years before then without issue ,now he can’t have it

Anna-7 I'm with you on that one too. Its just going to stay around for longer, I was poorly with my vaccines but I'd rather be poorly than die, I know / knew someone who was anti vaccine, she caught covid and died. It's hard to feel sorry for people like that, I felt sorry for whoever she was in contact with. Don't our nurses have a hard enough time, without these people playing God ??

I don't have stupid or selfish friends so all my friends are vaccinated

This says it all

Kryptonite

variant - to be clear these people have all died from rare blood clots linked to AZ, not other causes like the ones you mention.

While we know there is a rare, very rare chance of getting a blood clot from the AZ vaccine I believe over 127,000 people have lost their lives from this disease in the UK and I think that gives the answer as to why when offered the vaccine it should be taken. All those lives lost plus there are many whose lives have been altered by long covid. I am thinking of those like Kate Garraway's husband.

variant - to be clear these people have all died from rare blood clots linked to AZ, not other causes like the ones you mention.

MaggsMcG - my sincere condolences to you. ?

variant - they seem to have been fit and healthy people with no underlying health conditions. Some are now being identified in the press including 44 year old Radio Newcastle presenter Lisa Shaw. People have died in other countries too after AZ. This is of course, the reason why under 40s are advised to have Pfizer in the UK and why so many countries have restricted (or abandoned) the use of AZ. I know I'm not the only person who's scared of this vaccine.

Chewbacca

^Anyone who lets something like a vaccine come between them aren't friends.^

Similarly, anyone who doesn't care enough about their friends to want to protect them by getting vaccinated, isn't really a friend either.

I’m with you on that one !

Do they know whether these people who died might have contracted covid before they were vaccinated or might have had some terminal disease or might have been run over by a bus?

I meant to type 61 deaths (not 71). I see 5 more have died after AZ since the figures were updated.

When we faced a war and people had to fight an enemy which threatened our country, they did not have a choice not to fight because of the personal threat to their lives. I see this as a similar thing, we are just fighting a different kind of enemy and need to have our vaccinations for the good of the whole even if it means a sacrifice to ourselves. My view anyway.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-vaccine-adverse-reactions/coronavirus-vaccine-summary-of-yellow-card-reporting

Scroll down document to Annex 2 and you can download each vaccine adverse effects.

There is a desperate need for better education - in understanding the basis of science, statistics and risk, critical thinking and logic.

People must be taught how to be sceptical and rational and question the nonsense conspiracy theories that are being foisted upon them.

Normally, I consider these things very carefully and don't instantly run for vaccinations on government advice. However, the risk of covid 19 is so high I didn't consider for long not having it. There are some people who simply cannot have it as the risk is high for them. So, where a person can have it I really think they have a responsibility to others to take it. So, yes, your friends have the right not to take it. However, in this position, and given the delta strain is cause for concern, if the friends don't have a genuine medical reason for not taking it, then I would reconsider my ability to socialise with them for the immediate future at least.

We had our washing machine repaired last week. The repair man came in, no mask and in conversation it transpired that he had no vaccinations. His reasoning was that the average person dies at 82, the average person dies of covid at 84 so who cares? Well the problem I had with that was that actually I care and although we are all double vaccinated, I still don’t want Covid. Also his argument was of course nonsense.

I know several people who have not been vaccinated. Mostly young intelligent rational people.. even my own 54 year old son. I do feel I should respect their personal choice and they should respect mine.

Purple star you are not allowed to choose which vaccine you have in this country. Otherwise I'd choose Pfizer. The blood clot issue affects more women than men, not just younger women. (See yellow card reports on Gov website.) AZ has three times as many 'complaints' as Pfizer.

Idiots.

No scientific evidence?

What rubbish. It is not possible for any vaccine or medicine to be approved in this country or elsewhere without scientific evidence that it is both safe and effective.

I won’t have a vaccine that has so many possible catastrophic side effects. Had Covid & relying on my body to have built a defence system. No one will convince me to take something being pushed so hard with no scientific evidence. If you want to say I’m selfish - back it up.

Variant - yellow card reporting on the government website.

Rivercross - so sorry about your brother-in-law. ?

I also have friends who refuse to be vaccinated. I believe the only way to slow the spread of Covid is for people to take up the vaccine. I think those who don't are only making this whole thing take longer to resolve.