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

I would like to ask Itsawelsthing if she's had other vaccinations and if so why is she so against this one?

I recognise that you have the right to choose whether or not you have the vaccine * itsawelshthing* but would you also choose not to be treated in a hospital should you catch covid as a result of not being vaccinated and need hospital treatment?

Lucca

ayse

As I’ve said before any long term effects of the vaccine cannot be known and by long term I mean 5, 10, 15, 20 years etc. The vaccine is new which is why the medical regulator has said that it should only be used for vulnerable young people.

The OP feels she is being pressured into having the vaccine. I too am concerned about the way this country is moving towards the right. LBC presenters are discussing this drift towards state control.

I’m concerned about the possible theft of our medical records by stealth (Gransnet in June) and also on the BBC news. Sections of the medical profession were extremely concerned and action has been put off until the Autumn.

Part of the population is concerned about the continual untruths told in both the press and Parliament. What about the awarding of contracts by government bodies to friends of friends?

The new police bill going through Parliament at the moment.

I’m truly concerned about the erosion of our civil liberties and I think I have an idea of where OP is coming from. The thin end of the wedge?

Asking everyone to be vaccinated against a dangerous disease is nothing to do with right wing policies. Nothing. In fact many if the rabidly anti vax, anti lockdown people are very right wing.

I am definitely not right wing and I fully support vaccination and vaccination passports,

I don’t think you have read my reply properly!

I have said nothing against being vaccinated!

However, should we then expect ALL children to be vaccinated before they go to school as is done in the USA to protect all children from childhood diseases?

Covid is fatal for some and in the world the mortality rate is c.3.4% of the population. I understood that once herd immunity was reached we could live a relatively normal life. But no! Now there are going to be more hoops to jump through and this is what I mean by creeping authoritarianism.

Gwyneth

I recognise that you have the right to choose whether or not you have the vaccine * itsawelshthing* but would you also choose not to be treated in a hospital should you catch covid as a result of not being vaccinated and need hospital treatment?

Exactly

MerylStreep

ElderlyPerson
Obviously the shell suit jokes passed you by.

I think everyone else knows what you meant, MerylStreep.
Along with other posters' comments about lizards.

It isn't all about what you want or don't want. You have the choice, but with that choice comes the responsibility to choose well, and if you choose not to take the route which best protects you and others then you have to take alternative steps to compensate. Are you willing to do that, or do you plan to just carry on regardless?

I agree with Elegran that with the choice to work in a caring profession, eg a care home for the old and vulnerable, comes responsibility. That responsibility means taking precautions not to pass on to them anything likely to make them very ill or to die, one step being to get vaccinated against Covid.

It may not protect you or them absolutely but, combined with other precautions, it should lessen the chances. If you are apprehensive about being vaccinated perhaps you could consider a different career path which doesn't bring you in direct contact with other people?

Sadly, being young, fit and eating well seems to be no prevention to this virus.

seems to be no prevention to this virus.

seems to be no prevention to getting the virus.

Yes Itsawelshthing of course you have the right to choose. Life is full of choices sometimes we get it right and sometimes we don't. What concerns me is that is is younger people like yourself who are now being infected and hospitalised. Believe us on here when we say getting covid is far worse than having the vaccinations. Please talk to people who have had or know others with Covid, especially those who have lost loved ones and then ask yourself if your approach is right. Whatever you decide I wish you well.

First up ItsaWelshThing. Thank you so much for all the hard work you do to look after us oldies in your care home. It can't be easy. Where would we be without you!!!

I was adamant I wasn't going to have the vaccine either as I had lots of worries about it -some the same as yours. A few days ago someone on Gransnet suggested I speak to my GP about it. I trust my GP very much and so I spoke to her. She talked me through it and answered my questions with no pressure to have the vaccine at all.

After I'd spoken to her I felt so much happier and confident about things that booked my vaccine and am having it on Wednesday.

I'd really recommend you speak to your GP or a medical professional you trust. One thing is sure, they will know a lot more than random people on the net, David Icke and us gransnetters.

The world has always been a scary place. When I was growing up the government were issuing everyone with leaflets telling them how to survive a nuclear attack! I used to lie awake worrying about that like you lie awake worrying now. No bomb has gone off yet and that is MANY years later.
When I look back I realise I should have just had a glass of cider and got some kip. I hope you get some peace of mind soon and stay very safe.

I completely disagree with those who don’t want the vaccine unless, of course, there is a medical reason for not having it. My children and grandchildren have been vaccinated against measles. I wish it had been available in my childhood. I was 5 when I had it and was ill for about 4 months. Fortunately I was an only child as my mother had to nurse me devotedly for most of that time. I was left with eyesight and hearing problems. Thank God for medical progress!

People who are young and fit are getting seriously ill in the current wave, according to Professor Adam Finn:

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/25/seriously-ill-young-people-in-current-covid-admissions-expert-warns?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

For an unvaccinated person, the chances of a life threatening reaction to vaccination are minuscule compared to the chances of contracting a life-threatening infection of Covid 19.

And unnecessarily taking up hospital space and time when we have a huge backlog of, for example, cancer patients needing treatment. I’m very sorry but I think not having the vaccine is selfish. There need to be very good reasons not to have it. I Have a friend with multiple allergies but she is a doctor too so knows what she is talking about and had no hesitation in having the jab.

I have read all of your replies and I honestly do appreciate and take on board every single one. I am not a conspiracy theorist, just someone who does not want to be treated like dirt because of the decision I made not to get vaccinated.

As for knowing people who had covid, I know loads of them, including one of my friends family member who unfortunately has a compromised immune system with other array of illnesses and she was fine and recovered with no issues, the rest had a little temperature and had a headache but they all said if they could go to work, they would.

I'm not using that as an excuse not to get it but, I will take my chances.... Who knows if I will regret saying that or not. I'm not bothered about what the future will bring because I don't see one anymore.

Itsawelshthing, if you don't want the vaccine it's not illegal not to have it. But when you say you will take your chances, what do you mean? Odds are you'll not be extremely unwell due to age etc. But you could pass it on to someone older. More vulnerable. Who couldn't have the vaccine. Or the vaccine didn't take for them. No vaccine has 100% success rate.

Personally I think that it's a way out of this pandemic. Covid isn't going away but for those who get it, the vaccine has proved that the symptoms are less severe and people are unlikely to be hospitalised.

And you do have a future!

Itsawelshthing

I have read all of your replies and I honestly do appreciate and take on board every single one. I am not a conspiracy theorist, just someone who does not want to be treated like dirt because of the decision I made not to get vaccinated.

As for knowing people who had covid, I know loads of them, including one of my friends family member who unfortunately has a compromised immune system with other array of illnesses and she was fine and recovered with no issues, the rest had a little temperature and had a headache but they all said if they could go to work, they would.

I'm not using that as an excuse not to get it but, I will take my chances.... Who knows if I will regret saying that or not. I'm not bothered about what the future will bring because I don't see one anymore.

But what are your reasons for NOT having it ?

I know people who have died from Covid, I know people who have been very ill with Covid, I know people who still have long Covid.

If you listen to David Icke, you are a conspiracy theorist.

You said that you have read all replies itsawelshthing but you didn’t actually answer my question. Would you choose to accept treatment from the NHS if you contacted Covid as a result of exercising your right not to be vaccinated.

And I don’t know the answer to just why OP doesn’t want the vaccine

Gwyneth

You said that you have read all replies itsawelshthing but you didn’t actually answer my question. Would you choose to accept treatment from the NHS if you contacted Covid as a result of exercising your right not to be vaccinated.

Sorry I must've missed this and yes I would choose treatment because like everyone else, I pay my NI and I have a right to get treatment just like everyone else, vaccinated or not.

And the reason I don't want the vaccination is because 1) I am not vulnerable and I consider myself fit and healthy so I don't need it personally and 2) it is still under clinical trial until 2023. Vaccines take 10 to 20 years to develop, but this one took just 1 year.

Itsawelshthing why 2023? I don’t understand? Thanks.

Well if that is your decision itsawelshthing go with it, but stop bleating about your fear and the way the world is turning out , about conspiracies about coercion and control by government or other factions. Your choice, your consequences.
If I had an elderly relative in a care home or visiting carers I would sure as hell want their carers to be vaccinated.
You have the right to choose, the vulnerable people you claim to care for have no such choice, so I would support to the hilt any decision by the government or by care home owners to insist on vaccination except where there is a valid medical reason against it and in those cases, you can forget weekly testing, I would want to see daily testing.

Feel the same as you MawBe

If you refuse to be vaccinated itsawelshthing then you must find another job. It would be utterly immoral for a vaccine refuser to continue to work in social care putting vulnerable people at risk.

They don't HAVE to take 10 - 20 years to develop. They usually take that long because there are delays while officialdom gets round to signing off each stage in the procedure, and while the manufacturers raise the money for the next stage. In an emergency, with all the stops pulled out. things move much fastr than normal.

The developers of the Oxford Zeneca vaccine had a blog post in April 2020 at covid19vaccinetrial.co.uk/blog-how-long-will-it-take-get-oxford-vaccine-deployment where their estimate is that 12 months could be enough. They said:-

"Experts have estimated that it will take 12-18 months to develop a new vaccine at high speed. Under normal circumstances, most vaccine development programmes take more than five years, so this is still a considerably accelerated timescale.

This 12-18-month prediction includes the time taken to develop manufacturing processes to produce the vaccine on a larger scale, as well as preclinical testing in animals and evaluation of the vaccine in human participants in a clinical trial. Scientists need to assess the safety and efficacy of the vaccine over a number of weeks and months through phase I, II and III clinical trials. If the vaccine is safe and efficacious, regulatory approval is needed before the vaccine can be deployed.

. Many of these stages can be undertaken more quickly if there are no unexpected roadblocks. Firstly, the use of a platform technology approach, i.e. a vaccine delivery system that has been used before and can be adapted for a new pathogen, can shorten the initial vaccine development time. Also, in an emergency situation, large scale manufacturing could be carried out concurrently while the clinical trial is ongoing, which can shorten the overall timescale for vaccine development. This would mean that if the clinical trial is successful, the vaccine would be ready in larger quantities, to be deployed immediately. Finally, regulatory review of promising candidates is also undertaken faster in an epidemic, because more staff and resources are dedicated to the review process. .

Oxford University is using all these strategies in order to try to make a vaccine available as rapidly as possible once it is proven safe and effective. "

The vaccine underwent all the usual testing only accelerated due to removing all the usual barriers to getting things done. Read about it. Those who developed the Oxford one have written a book about it. Read it,
“I don’t need it”. how selfish.

Agree with everything Maw said.