Comment on Are MRNA vaccines any riskier than other vaccines?
stinerman@midwest.social 5 months ago
Unless the friend has training as a microbiologist or something similar their belief is inconsequential. And even then they would be in the vast minority in their field (like a geologist that believes oil doesn’t come from the heat andcompressions of ancient organic matter.
A lot of people are afraid of new things they don’t understand. The hope is that people realize that the fear is irrational and listen to experts in the relevant field.
Izzgo@kbin.social 5 months ago
That would be me, highly reluctant to try the new possibly risky thing until many other people have done it. But I DO realize my fear is (mostly) irrational, so after a bit I gather my courage and do the thing anyway. For covid mRNA vaccines, I skipped the first round, and watched the news carefully for word of people dropping dead. It didn't happen, so I caught the second round of vaccines in my area about a month later. I was still afraid, but considered it my civic duty to reduce the spread to the greatest degree in my ability. And since then I've got every "booster" I was eligible for. As an old person, I'm eligible among the first, lol.
I'm not convinced there aren't some under reported risks to the vaccine. But I still consider it my civic duty to help prevent the spread of something much riskier, covid.
arquebus_x@kbin.social 5 months ago
Even if risks are under-reported (plausible, but unlikely, given the amount of scrutiny), it's definitely the case that the risks from getting COVID are still not fully understood. Long COVID is a major issue that is still under investigation. So by your own metric - "highly reluctant to try the new possibly risky thing" - the vaccine is important. Because "the new possibly risky thing" in this case is getting COVID. You definitely don't want to "try" that.
Izzgo@kbin.social 5 months ago
Good point about new risky thing lol! And I so firmly don't want covid that, to my knowledge I haven't had it. And I rather desperately don't want long covid. THAT concern drives me more than simple covid. I'm cautious enough that people make fun of me, but too bad.