Pfizer for me, not even AstraZeneca. I only trust the Germans and their strong history of ethical medical development. I'll be seeing myself out.
I'm not sure I want anything that the FDA is stabbing into millions of people's arms under an Emergency Use Authorization, which by its very nature means, "we haven't given this the thorough testing we usually require which means we are taking the drug companies' collective word for it and we hope it's OK"
That's largely my thinking. I found it curious that one of our local medical centers had a few social media posts comparing "myth" to "fact", and under "fact" they listed the way that we could catch and spread the virus which was why we needed to be vaccinated. Except, er, once you've had the vaccine you still have to put a sock on your head and be afraid of everyone else and continue to live in fear so presumably you can still spread the virus even after being vaccinated. To me it seems the choice is to face the chance of a virus with a 99.98% survival rate or have something rushed through accelerated testing injected into me that offers no benefits at all. Hm. Let me take some time to consider this one.
I agree, but if I had to choose between the unknown side effects of the vaccine and the possible long-term damage from the virus, including death, for folks my age, and the risk of passing an infection to someone vulnerable... They offered the vaccine to the entire crew where I work. Very few interested. Not a hard choice for me.
Sure, since the virus is much more dangerous for older folks it shifts the dynamic. At my risk level there seems little point jostling for a place in the line when others want it and I don't really care about it.
Here's what's doubly ridiculous. I've had COVID, so I have 'natural' immunity of some kind. I've had the first Pfizer COVID shot (given to me as I'm in a high-risk group, to make sure I don't get COVID). So I have whatever immunity that grants, and it boosts my natural immunity? ...Yet, I still have to pretend as if I'm patient zero in some Stephen King novel. Because { waves hands in the air wildly } reasons. Like, no.
I drove my car today. 58.3 miles, one way. According to the most recent stats here in the great state of Confusion, I have a 99.988201% chance of surviving my daily commute, each day.
Pretty much our situation, except that we're not in a high risk group. I don't know for sure that we had it but we had something that laid us out pretty hard a year ago. A friend who had something very similar tested positive for COVID antibodies when he gave blood last summer. The push for these vaccine passports (you know, the vaccine isn't technically mandatory but you can't actually do anything unless you have it) is both worrying and silly. Worrying because it seems like just another way to push for another round of "papieren, bitte" and silly because it totally fails to consider the people who are naturally immune and therefore don't need a jab at all.
I had a similar discussion with a friend who was of the opinion that restaurants needed to stay shut down until this thing is over (except he couldn't say what counted as it "being over"). At my age the survival rate from the virus is reckoned to be 99.98%. I figured I'm more likely to die in a car crash driving to and from the brewpub than I am to catch the virus and die. He didn't like that analysis but couldn't come up with a coherent response. The followup that I didn't mind if he made his risk assessment and stayed home and that all I wanted was to be allowed to make my own risk assessment (you know, I'm a big boy and can think for myself and all that) seemed to break through any resistance he could come up with. I suspect he had just had an earful of the people who mocked him for wearing a face covering rather than just leaving him to it. The people who don't want to cover their faces but who then overtly get in the faces of the people who do seem to be doing just as much harm to their cause as the mask Nazis do to theirs.
The 31 miles I drive to Wally"s seems like about a 50-50 chance on a good day. The local grocery store with it's exorbitant mark-up doesn't sell seafood or a decent cheddar, so... Modern life is a roll of the dice.
I've heard enough COVID long-haulers that I'll get the vaccine, if and when, it shows up this way. My only concern would be with one of our sons who seems to react to shots.
Okay. Just realized the J&J COVID vaccine is derived using material from aborted fetuses. Appointment cancelled. Aborted fetuses being provided for commercial development and production of pharmaceuticals? New Rat-Fink World Order!
Here's a handout on the use of the fetal line cells with respect to the J&J vaccine (second page). Cells were derived from an elective abortion in 1985. https://www.health.nd.gov/sites/www... Page/COVID-19_Vaccine_Fetal_Cell_Handout.pdf