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

i would not associate with anyone who rejected having the jab.

I have a friend who says she won't have it. No health problems that I know of, she is against vaccines in general.
So far, she claims that she just won't go out anywhere. I don't know how well that will last.

There are two ways that getting vaccinated can slow the spread of the virus. First, it can help prevent you getting infected. Second, even if you are unlucky and catch the virus, it may reduce the risk of passing it on. It is crucial to understand how big these benefits are.

Two huge new studies have taken advantage of the successful UK vaccine rollout. An Oxford-ONS analysis of more than 370,000 survey participants found infections were reduced by 65% after a single dose. For protection against the virus, one dose was similar to having had a prior infection. There was no major difference between the two available vaccines.

www.theguardian.com/theobserver/commentisfree/2021/may/02/vaccinated-people-less-likely-to-pass-covid-on

No one I know has told me that they will not be vaccinated, but if they did I would refer them to the evidence that they are at so much more risk of getting covid, being hospitalised, passing it on to others and either dying or causing the death of others if they refuse the vaccine.

I have not had the vaccination and probably won't. I don't question or challenge other people's choice to have it - that is their choice and their right.

Avoid, avoid, avoid.

I respect my friend's decision not to have the vaccination and didn't question her as to why, I just wish she had afforded me the same respect and not made sneering remarks about people having 'stuff' put in their body without knowing what it is. It does irritate me though that refusers will be able to downplay the pandemic as the number of deaths in this country drop, without acknowledging that it is those of us who have had the vaccine that are responsible for society becoming safer for them and all of us. I firmly believe in choice though, and would not countenance compulsory vaccinations.

I don't know anyone who has declined the vac...and that's not a "to my knowledge" as I know they have had it. I do challenge anti vac views on public forums but I challenge anything that is provably untrue. I do believe firmly in personal choice about pretty much everything so I probably wouldn't evangelise about it but would listen to concerns. Anybody who went off on a rant would no longer be a friend!

I understand its a personal choice for everyone, some people feel they have good reason to refuse the Covid vaccine. What I can't get my head around are those people who refuse but then decide to have the vaccine so they can travel.

I would (controversially, I know) back a system under which refuseniks (not those who are unable to have the vaccine, or who have not yet been offered it) were banned from going to gatherings of more than a few people, from going abroad, from using public transport etc.

But as that hasn't happened, and is unlikely to happen, I accept that it is none of my business if a friend or colleague chooses not to have it. I would never try to persuade people to do things that are against their principles - that seems to me impertinent, and akin to cross-questioning a vegetarian about their choices. Also, if someone chooses not to tell others about their vaccine status, or lies about it, how would one 'deal with' that situation?

I don't see myself as some sort of unofficial law-enforcer. I disapprove of those who refuse, and think the attitude that those who have had the vaccine should act as lab rats so that others can wait to see if we suffer side effects before getting theirs is arrogant and selfish, but as long as that is legal there is nothing I can do.

As far as I know everyone I know has been vaccinated, most of them fighting to get to the top of the queue. My mother was very ill after she had the smallpox vaccination when she was in the ATS in the 40s. She knew she was really ill because her sergeant, who was a total cow, was bringing her drinks and mopping her brow and calling her darling! This seems far worse than the 24 hours with a headache that my son had after the Astra Zeneca jab - he was fine after the second one,

One of my SILs informed me he wouldn’t be having the covid jab. I told him he couldn’t come to our house or to any family gatherings until he had had it. My DH told him we’d have to consider carefully whether we could look after his child once a week. Guess what? He’s had it! Only because he wants to travel abroad to visit family though!

Lucca it’s an Authority thing, he refuses to do anything if he thinks the Government are behind it.

He’s an idiot and that’s only one of his many faults.

However he likes to go to a certain place for his holiday so if they have to have it for that then they will, in his head he is then making the decision.

BTW he is a Private Health Care professional, very fit for his age , non smoker , doesn’t drink alcohol, has his own Gym in his house because his Gym was closed due to lockdown, so doesn’t fit the profile that another poster put on earlier.

Like you CafeAuLait I have friends who have different views about the vaccine and have made individual decisions about whether or not to have it. I am not at all anti-vaccine but I am concerned about this one. I thought long and hard about whether or not to have it. That doesn’t mean I was willing to rely on others to protect me, just that I weighed up all the information available to me and made a decision based on lots of factors.

I think I am more concerned about the psychological effects the last year or so has had on us all. Like Galaxy I struggle with people who can’t accept that everyone is entitled to hold a different opinion and to make their own choice. I find the judgments about people who decline to be vaccinated unpleasant and unhealthy. They are not all anti-vax conspiracy theorists, nor are they necessarily stupid or selfish or anti-authority. They may be quite the opposite - either way, they have every right to make their own choices, anything else would be dictatorship.

I think it’s to do with the individualism of our culture, when we are more concerned with ourselves. In a collectivist culture, such as in the East, people consider themselves more part of the whole, and are more likely to act as a group (for good or bad).

MayBee70

CafeAuLait

Luckygirl

People who do not get vaccinated are not "asking" me to get vaccinated to keep them safe - but they are reliant on it and no doubt this is part of their "reasoning."

I do not know any non-vaccinators who are relying on anyone else's vaccination status. They simply don't care if you get vaccinated or not. If they were that worried, they'd get vaccinated themselves.

So would non vaccinators be hasn’t to contract eg smallpox?

I don't quite follow the sentence but I guess non-vaccinators would make their own decisions about the smallpox vaccine as they did back then when it was new. Some who aren't getting the Covid vaccine have had other vaccines.

Everyone I know has welcomed having the vaccine. Both myself and my daughter had side effects but would still have it again. Son in law only had a sore arm. Every vaccine or tablets has side effects. Being ill after the jab is a poor excuse unless you end up in hospital. I have always held the view it should be compulsory unless you can't have it for medical reasons then you need a doctor's letter saying that.

I am 63 well remember people having whopping cough because they didn't get vaccinated. And being dangerously ill. My brother and sister in law where very ill for 6 weeks with Covid both have serious health problems. They couldn't wait to have the vaccine.

Wonder how may who wouldn't have the vaccine will change their minds if they get Covid .

CafeAuLait

Luckygirl

People who do not get vaccinated are not "asking" me to get vaccinated to keep them safe - but they are reliant on it and no doubt this is part of their "reasoning."

I do not know any non-vaccinators who are relying on anyone else's vaccination status. They simply don't care if you get vaccinated or not. If they were that worried, they'd get vaccinated themselves.

So would non vaccinators be hasn’t to contract eg smallpox?

Only one person I know - though, thankfully, haven't seen recently - is a Covid denier and a vaccination refuser. But she has always been an 'oddball' and it doesn't surprise me at all. My family and friends are all either fully vaccinated or almost there.

I totally agree with Marydoll's post. Yes we must respect everyone's views but totally selfish not to get vaccinated if possible. They need to consider others.
My husband has had a double transplant, with heart problems and remains vulnerable.
We know a 50yr old friend who refuses to have vaccine, we won't be meeting up.

I guess we have to accept that some people have an overriding need for control of their own lives, even if it means putting that life at risk. A kind of ‘I won’t be told what I can or can’t do.’

It’s so dominant in their personalities that they can’t change. They’ll come up with all sorts of reasons and explanations but at the root is that need to be in control.

They are the people who find it very hard to deal with disease one or disability when it strikes and so prefer not to think it can happen.

They can’t change. Anymore than I can change from someone who plans for every possible disastrous scenario. Even fictional ones?

I guess we just have to decide whether we want that sort of person as a friend.

I don't know anyone who hasn't had it who is able to. Even my African friend who was blind 'vaccinated' as a child at school in the 70s has had it.

I have a friend who won't have the vaccine and posts, on Facebook, videos of the protests.

She is a very healthy, nearly 80 year old and I was pleased to see her at the shops the other day. I was not so pleased when I saw a big sign hanging from a cord round her neck which said she is exempt from wearing a mask. There is nothing wrong with her!

I could be exempt due to lung problems and was given a certificate from our local surgery but I still wear a mask in shops although I have been known to have to dash out to be able to breathe.

Biscuitmuncher

I'm not having the vaccine. In fact having it terrifies me. I've had a lot of friends who have felt very unwell after it

Have you ever had Pneumonia Biscuit? because it is very, very unpleasant and if even a mild dose of Covid is in anyway similar I think you would be reconsidering your decision. I think a few days discomfort is a small price to pay for the protection it is obviously giving. I'm thankful to have had mine and hope I am going someway in protecting myself and those around me.

I do think that part of the problem lies in the fact that we have become so complacent about the human capacity to fight disease.

This pandemic has shown that, unless we fight back, nature rules.

Kali2

We had a neighbour in the 70s who told us she would not get her kids MMR vaccinated. Her pov was that as we were prepared to take the risk (as she perceived it) with our own children, then hers would be covered by default. We were furious and found it hard to communicate after that!

Same one who came to borrow our wine glasses for a party, because ours were not so valuable as hers. Yes!

She sounds like a charmer.