Is it just me who is terrified of the way this country and the whole world is turning out

The purpose of the vaccine is not just to protect yourself, but to protect others around you. I have a friend with your beliefs and i have told her when it comes to meeting indoors I will not be able to meet with her.
You are actually being quite selfish not wanting to protect those around you from this virus

Most of us like a simple life too Itsawelsh and things will slowly get back to normal, just needs patience.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

It’s vital that we are allowed to discuss things, even (maybe especially) unpopular opinions

based on my research

You obviously haven't researched proper academic papers if you think this vaccine is 'experimental'.

As for quoting David Icke - was he part of your research?

David Icke, what a person to quote, compared to the overwhelmingly majority of the world's most eminent scientists.

I agree with Fanny. We should be able to discuss these things.

Hello lady who is posting with the handle Itsawelshthing, I am in my seventies and totally shielding. I am worried about COVID-19. But for me, in my seventies and retired and having had health problems I am content to be totally isolated and stay like that as long as necessary, only going away from home if I need to go to the dentist or hospital.
At your age though, that is a different situation.
Though I do go in my garden to the bins, a bit at a time.

Yet once I was in my twenties as you are now. Though I am male. I am not a grandparent nor a parent.
You have posted here, and that is good. Please feel free to post whenever you like.
I have found talking out a problem in this forum is good. I have done it at least twice. It helps.

I have not had the vaccine either. The reason was logistical, but as time has passed I have become rather wary of it.

Though I would be offered the one with the blood clot issues. As a younger person my understanding is that you would not be offered that one.

The government is often saying these days that all adults have been offered the vaccine. They are less boasting about how many have taken it up.

I got the offer towards the end of January 2021. I was told that I could not have a home visit, I would need to go to the surgery. The only way would be a ride in a taxi, over 20 minutes each way, much longer if there were traffic delays.

With the information at the time I felt there were two possibilities to consider, both unpleasant. Bearing in mind that COVID-19 could develop within a few days and the vaccine only become effective after about 14 days.

1. Being in hospital soon with COVID-19 caught in a taxi, yet vaccinated.

2. Being in hospital with COVID-19 at some later date, unvaccinated.

I thought about it. There were predictions that the situation would be much improved in a few months.

For scenario 1, I considered that I would think "Why oh why did I not just stay at home rather than get in the confined space of that taxi?".

For scenario 2, I would consider "Oh well, but at least I made it until now, who knows what might have happened had I got in a taxi and caught it back then, though I might have ben alright, but on balance I think I did the right thing at the time."

I thought at the time with the information available at the time that staying at home was the lesser of the two risks.

I decided tp think about it.

The weather the next week was bitterly cold, so it got left.

Time has gone by and well, here we are in late July.

I have not been contacted since about it.

I think that if I had to go in a taxi I still might not go.

If I were offered a home vaccination I am not sure what I would do. I know one friend who had Pfizer vaccine and was ill for a fortnight after the second dose, though she does have diabetes so maybe that was a factor. I would probably ask to discuss it. I think I would be wary of the vaccine with the blood clot issue, but that is not the one that you would be offered.

It is all very difficult.

Our situations are different. But for each of us it is a decision about what goes into our bodies. If offered a home visit in January I would have had the vaccination. It was later that the blood clot issue arose. I remember how it went. First it was said to not be a problem. Then some people said that they could not quite rule out there being a problem. Later a problem was confirmed.

I have been very wary of what most ministers say. I did trust Mr Hancock, he seemed straight with the public about it and cautious. I used to trust the medical people at the podiums, but I have become more wary of what they say recently.

Itsawelshthing

Sorry I mean they're getting more severe side effects from a vaccine but the virus has a 99percent survival rate. It doesn't stop transmission, and covid continues to mutate which probably makes the vaccine useless.

It isn't useless! Not being a magic wand doesn't make something useless.

One of these days, someone will invent a gadget like the one the Star Trek medics had - they just point it at the patient and it measures all their vital signs, does every test possible with no invasion and instant results, accurately diagnoses their condition/disease and beams into them the treatment that cures it instantly.

Meanwhile, we have to make do with whatever is state-of-the-art so far. Doc Scottie may turn his nose up at our efforts, but for us to reject it as useless is like throwing out a beef stew and going hungry, because it isn't a Chateaubriand steak.

FannyCornforth

It’s vital that we are allowed to discuss things, even (maybe especially) unpopular opinions

Yes, absolutely.
Trying to close down any debate/ subject is wrong, far better to talk about it and get different perspectives...it may also change posters minds.

The vaccine cuts down transmission massively, and lessens the impact of it on the patient. That isn't "useless"

Time to switch on brain I think.

If you think that the government introduced restrictions in order to be controlling, then ask yourself what they gain by it - would you want to vote them in next time if that were the situation? Why do you think they have eased restrictions now? ...... because they think it is scientifically the right thing to do, or because they know they will get kicked out at the next election if they do not try and appease those who are unable to grasp the seriousness of this pandemic?

You do indeed have the right to choose not to have the vaccine. But you have to take the consequences:

- you will not be able to work in a care setting
- you will risk getting the virus, which can have serious consequences
- you will risk giving it to someone vulnerable
- you will be part of the problem - the only way out of this constant restriction scenario is for as many people was possible to be vaccinated
- you will not be welcome at festivals and other events you might wish to attend

There are a lot of "you"s in my list - this is to mirror the many "I"s in your post - it is not all about you!

By the way the vaccine is not experimental - the concepts upon which it is based are tried and tested; the only reason we got it so quickly is because money was thrown at it.

I have had the vaccine and will continue to wear a masque in shops although optional.
I do not use public transport having my owns means getting from a to b and further .The beach is only a mile from my home so always walk as not worth getting the car out .

You sound very depressed and perhaps you indeed need a break to gain some perspective.
You use the term “based on my research” of the vaccine.
Are you scientifically or medically trained? And do you feel the same way about (presumably) the vaccines you received in childhood against, diphtheria, polio, TB, mumps, measles, rubella?
This is not an “experimental” vaccine. Nor is it a plot by government or Big Pharma to coerce or control the population.
David Icke has spouted much gobbledegook in his career and most people take it with a mountain of salt.
You sound close to paranoid in your fears of a “cashless and staff less society” - where has this come from? If CCTV follows customers in supermarkets it is to combat the rather more prosaic crime of shoplifting .
I genuinely feel you need to talk your fears through with perhaps a health professional, or a kindly person at work . You may feel you do not need the protection of the virus, but the people you work with in the care sector do.
Please talk this through before your fears get the better of you.

I sympathise with OP as I originally wasn't sure I'd get the vaccine. I don't get an annual flu shot. I'm very cautious about what medications and vaccines I do take. In the end, I did get a vaccine. What I'm seeing around me now makes me glad I have.

Yes, we don't know what the longer term effects of the vaccine might be, if there are any. We also don't know what the longer term effects of Covid are, though we know what many of the shorter term effects are (and they're not good for many). OP, you are not risk free by not taking the vaccine.

Like others have said, you are free not to take the vaccine and choose whatever you feel the safer option is for you - but you don't get to decide for other people if they feel safer around you or not. You may have to change your occupation or work only with those who accept you with your chosen vaccine status. Your right to choose isn't consequence free.

Hey, I had only read the original post and the first few replies when I started writing my post. I took a while and we were on page 2 and the poor lady has been being given stick and reported! Come off it. She is not a grandmother but she has come here in need. I am not a grandparent and I came here in need and I got stick from a few but much kindness from others. Comment about not having children.

So please be kind. The lady is young, she is worried.

She has an impersonal handle.

I respect her anonymity, that is how most of us post here, but if you think of her as Mary or Rhiannon or whoever seeking comfort and kindness would you treat her better?

Firstly, there is no age minimum on here and you are allowed to post.

Secondly, I know you have posted about your anxiety before, have you managed to arrange counselling through the wellbeing service as talking this through will be really useful for you.

Thanks to Jaxjacky, doodlebug and others for your common sense approach.

It saddens me to read that there are some still adamant about not having the vaccine.

I’m also saddened itsawelshthing, that at the age of 30, you don’t have any social life at all beyond your family. You don’t say whether or not they have had the vaccine. You could be putting them at risk.

Working in a care home you must have seen how much suffering and death this virus is causing. You are young, healthy and fit. 1000s aren’t.

The flu vaccine I have doesn’t give me 100% percent protection and I get side effect some years. This vaccine has to be changed every year to give some protection. Without it I could end up in an ICU. I will do what I can to ease the stress and pressures the NHS have had so I’ll continue to have the flu vaccine every year and an extra COVID vaccine if needed.

I have made an informed choice by myself that I do not want to have the vaccine, based on my research but also because I really don't need it

Really?

I would have posted exactly the same reply to Mary or Rhiannon or anyone else. I haven't "given her stick", nor have most of the replies. I believe she was reported for treating David Icke as a reliable source for research. I don't think it was for being doubtful about having the vaccine, or for being a dreadful person herself.

I hope she has taken note of the replies, particularly Mawbe's advice.

The Star Trek doctor was Dr McCoy. Scottie was in Engineering.

I remember you compared me to someone you knew born in 1943 and then went on about what people thought of him.

Incidentally, I too am concerned about the direction in which this country and the whole world is travelling. There is more polarisation, intolerance, anger, and violence than I remember seeing or hearing about in my over eighty years. This is nothing to do with CoVid or the way it has been handled - it goes back further than that. I fear for the future; I just can't see it being a peaceful, settled environment for anyone.

lemongrove point taken, sorry, but David Icke is so racist it’s a personal trigger point. I’ll think first next time Itsawelshthing apologies.

It is a while since I watched Star Trek, Elderly Person. Now you have reminded me, yes, it was Doc McCoy.

I am not sure of the relevance in this thread of my old post about someone who left GN some time ago.

It is up to you and your beliefs itsawelshthing and up to others as to whether they want you to work with or for them.
Sadly Cafeaulait many people in residential homes or having home care are unable to make an informed decision about the vaccination issue.

That's true about capacity to make informed decisions sodapop. I guess I was thinking about in home care with more capable people where it is one person visiting another to provide care rather than a home situation.