Why do so many people oppose Covid vaccinations?

packleader

packleader

Member
Location
Southern California
According to the figures below, it's safer to be vaccinated.

Total US population 334,943,321
Population Clock (census.gov) OR https://www.census.gov/popclock

At least 270,227,181 people or 81% of the population have received at least one dose.
Overall, 230,637,348 people or 70% of the population are considered fully vaccinated.
US Coronavirus vaccine tracker | USAFacts OR https://usafacts.org/visualizations/covid-vaccine-tracker-states

Confirmed Covid Cases 103,436,829
(searching bing.com "confirmed covid cases in the US"

Deaths 1,132,206 [unvaccinated people?]
CDC COVID Data Tracker: Home OR https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home

Far-right U.S. news outlet The Epoch Times reported on March 6 that 966 people had died after having the Pfizer or Moderna COVID vaccines. Newsweek found this to be mostly correct.
Fact Check: Have 966 People Died After Receiving the COVID vaccine? (newsweek.com) OR
https://www.newsweek.com/covid-vaccine-deaths-cause-pfizer-moderna-fact-check-966-died-1574447

Nearly One in Five American Adults Who Have Had COVID-19 Still Have “Long COVID”
Nearly One in Five American Adults Who Have Had COVID-19 Still Have "Long COVID" (cdc.gov) OR
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/20220622.htm

More Than 3,500 Americans Have Died from Long COVID-Related Illness in the First 30 Months of the Pandemic
More Than 3,500 Americans Have Died from Long COVID-Related Illness in the First 30 Months of the Pandemic (cdc.gov)
OR https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/20221214.htm

Selected Adverse Events Reported after COVID-19 Vaccination
Selected Adverse Events Reported after COVID-19 Vaccination | CDC OR
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/adverse-events.html

PS, I had 6 Pfizer shots in Jan. 2021; Feb. 2021; Sept. 2021; Apr. 2022; Sept. 2022; and May 2023. I am eager to get the new version coming out in Fall. Soon I'll be on an airplane and will be wearing a N95 mask to protect myself from others. I have consistently tested negative.

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packleader said:
Why do so many people oppose Covid vaccinations?
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That's a good question, and you'll find a lot of them here, just read the posts in the Covid section https://www.seniorforums.com/forums/coronavirus-disease-covid-19.61/

I am vaccinated and believe most people should be. However I have many friends and family who think otherwise. Many are intelligent and mostly rational people. I have tried to understand why and I think it boils down to trusting science and the scientists vs personal experiences and feelings. While certainly not all health scientists support the vaccines a majority do, by a substantial margin I believe. And I agree with you:
packleader said:
According to the figures below, it's much safer to be vaccinated.
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And for the most part I believe those figures. However there are those who do not. Reasons for not seem to vary from a basic distrust of government and the science government supports to knowing people who have had, or believe they have had bad experiences with the vaccines. @Rose65 is one of those, and if I had had the experience she had I might think the same as she does, it is understandable.

I am usually a skeptic and have done my best to review the statistics, such as the ones you cite. I believe that is more definitive than expert opinions, and I think it does clearly show benefits to being vaccinated. Some people are suspicious of the statistics and some have trouble understanding them. It can be hard for a lot of people to understand or accept statistical risk figures, I think we all have that problem to some extent. For example there is little question that commercial flight is one of the safest ways to travel, yet many fear flying. Lots of other examples out there. I think some of that is human nature, for most of our existence we learned of risks from personal experiences or stories of others, statistics is a very new science.

Anyway I don't expect many minds to be changed by anything I say here, or maybe at all.
 

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I did for about 18 months.. even tho' I got Covid at the start as did my husband... I gave in because we just were not permitted to go anywhere or travel, or visit with people.. and I decided I may as well get it.. and I have had 3 now ( Pfizer).. and I have no intentions of having any more. Neither my husband..or my daughter ( who didn't get Covid).. have had the vaccination, and will never have it.. they are fully of the mind that it is something that will not benefit the body in the long term..
 
I’ve had two vaccinations and have no intention of having any more. This doesn’t mean I’m an anti vaxer. I think everyone needs to make the right decision for themselves . We are all different with different lifestyles including how much social interaction we have. I respect peoples right to have the choice that’s best for them without getting hassled by others.
 
I just had my fifth Covid (plus influenza) booster and I feel fine. Covid and flu are both on the rise in Australia just now as we are in the depth of Winter. Hubby is in a nursing home so I test for Covid every day before I visit him. He has also had his fifth Covid/flu booster. He's fine too.

I am at a loss to understand why so many people are suspicious of vaccinations.
 
caroln said:
I think the statistics on covid related deaths is over inflated. Did the person die OF covid or WITH covid? For example, people that died in car accidents and were found to have covid were counted as a covid death.
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I think you may be right.

That is why I rely mostly on the total overall death rate, of any cause. Harder to bias a report of death than its cause. It also takes into account people who have died as the result of being vaccinated. When that is done it becomes clear those who get vaccinated are less likely to die of any cause than those who don't. Statistics based on hundreds of millions of people world wide support this.

Fortunately the death rate is low for both, just a bit lower for those vaccinated.

I have cited those statistics and sources several time in other Covid threads.
 
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PeppermintPatty said:
I’ve had two vaccinations and have no intention of having any more. This doesn’t mean I’m an anti vaxer. I think everyone needs to make the right decision for themselves . We are all different with different lifestyles including how much social interaction we have. I respect peoples right to have the choice that’s best for them without getting hassled by others.
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Agreed. One thing that is offensive is the anti-vaxer terminology, the other is the hassling. People who didn't get the shots are not necessarily against fully tested vaccines. It really doesn't matter if people understand what others choose or not.

Bella said:
Whether to have the COVID shots is a personal choice and your choice doesn't need to be justified by anyone else.
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Exactly!! This has been argued and argued. Has a single mind been changed? I doubt it.

caroln said:
I think the statistics on covid related deaths is over inflated. Did the person die OF covid or WITH covid? For example, people that died in car accidents and were found to have covid were counted as a covid death.
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Yes, in my state there was a shootout in a park. A young man was killed. His death was added to the Covid count and the only reason we found out is that an honest coroner was so outraged that he protested it in the media.
 
Reasons for not vaxxing posted on SF.

It's only a cold or flu.........why worry???

It's all about the money.

Government and Bill Gates wants to implant a chip.

There's always hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin and numerous other treatments that have been proven ineffective should I get a "bad cold."

It was an emergency approval.

It's fully approved, but not safe.

It's an mRNA vaccine not an old school vax.

It's not perfect.

They've never been on a ventilator so they want a chance to experience that.
 
againstthegrain said:
Reasons for not vaxxing posted on SF.

It's only a cold or flu.........why worry???

It's all about the money.

Government and Bill Gates wants to implant a chip.

There's always hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin and numerous other treatments that have been proven ineffective should I get a "bad cold."

It was an emergency approval.

It's fully approved, but not safe.

It's an mRNA vaccine not an old school vax.

It's not perfect.

They've never been on a ventilator so they want a chance to experience that.
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Seen all of those, except maybe for the last one, which I assume was in jest. A few others I've seen:
  • We don't know the long term risks of the vaccines
  • Complete testing, similar to what has been done for other vaccines was not done, not enough time
  • A belief that the risk of getting sick or dying from the vaccines is higher than any benefit, and a lack of belief in statistics showing otherwise
  • Listening to select experts who argue against the vaccine
  • Having friends or family who have had a bad reaction to the vaccine
  • The fact that the vaccine is not fully effective
I don't think all the reasons are irrational, I just don't agree with them.
 
Because the issue became politicized. So those on the right decided against it, and then made it a cause. Then the conspiracy theorists came in and turned it into some evil plot. The issue became weaponized until it eroded any trust in people who spend all the time researching, testing, and so on.

Here's what Covid was about. There have been epidemics before, even in modern times, but they're largely been in Asia. The West was ill prepared for an epidemic. Then it happened, and we had to think on our feet. Lockdowns. New hospitals built. Millions died. Vaccines don't stop you getting Covid-19, but it helps with the symptoms. Some people - widely reported - were anti-vacers, and they got Covid and died.

It's all wrapped up in a distrust in government, the institutions of our countries, and the democratic process. It's a ME generation, where YOUR personal freedoms beat out the personal freedoms of others. Me, me me. Social good? Don't care. For the good of the whole? Don't care. And hey, if you deny Covid 19, yet get it, you can always get the same health care as everyone else, so it's a danger free protest.

What Covid taught me is that if a more deadly virus hit, a whole lot of people would die. Society, as a collective, is in real danger. Countries are in trouble. The United States is in trouble. Everyone is armed with an advanced degree from the University of Google, and reading an article from a right-wing leaning web site is the same as years of study. Covid exposed a whole lot of trouble.

ps: My parents get the Flu vaccine every year. It always makes them ill. They feel rough for a couple weeks. But they keep taking it year after year because they understand the greater good. You only get to die once.
 
Alligatorob said:
Seen all of those, except maybe for the last one, which I assume was in jest. A few others I've seen:
  • We don't know the long term risks of the vaccines
  • Complete testing, similar to what has been done for other vaccines was not done, not enough time
  • A belief that the risk of getting sick or dying from the vaccines is higher than any benefit, and a lack of belief in statistics showing otherwise
  • Listening to select experts who argue against the vaccine
  • Having friends or family who have had a bad reaction to the vaccine
  • The fact that the vaccine is not fully effective
I don't think all the reasons are irrational, I just don't agree with them.
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We chose to not have the vax
We were teetering on if we should or not
Until our healthy son died within four days of getting the Moderna shot
  • Having friends or family who have had a bad reaction to the vaccine
I'd say that's a pretty bad reaction

  • Complete testing, similar to what has been done for other vaccines was not done, not enough time
That was in our letter to the Moderna folks
Pleading for more testing
 
caroln said:
At the risk of just picking out just one little thing from the above post, University of Google! Haven't heard that before...good one!
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There really is a "Doctor Goggle " on the internet. My wife and I use it, if one of us is going to be using a newly prescribed medication, or in my case, a new medical procedure. JimB.
 
MarkD said:
Poor education, ignorance and a resulting susceptibility to manipulation.
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I don't know, some of my friends and family who refused the vaccine are quite well educated and intelligent.

My best friend from my youth is a degreed chemical engineer who started his own company and is now worth many times what I am. He is one of the strongest anti-vax people I know. I don't understand it.
 
My son's best friend is really afraid of the stick. Sometimes, even to the point where he will pass out. I asked him how he got through the physical when he enlisted in the Army. He told me he had to man-up and then when he was sent overseas, he had to get 1 more shot.
 
My wife and I had to the first two shots. We always get our annual flu shots. My wife got very sick from the second injection. Two months after the Covid shot, I got Covid and then two months later I got the flu. Up until that point I had NEVER had the flu of any kind. I believe the Covid shot messed up my immune system, and did not protect me. No more...but we will continue the annual flu shots.

I don't trust most of what the government puts out about Covid...
 
Gary O' said:
We chose to not have the vax
We were teetering on if we should or not
Until our healthy son died within four days of getting the Moderna shot
  • Having friends or family who have had a bad reaction to the vaccine
I'd say that's a pretty bad reaction

  • Complete testing, similar to what has been done for other vaccines was not done, not enough time
That was in our letter to the Moderna folks
Pleading for more testing
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My condolences for your loss Gary, very sad.
 
jimintoronto said:
There really is a "Doctor Goggle " on the internet. My wife and I use it, if one of us is going to be using a newly prescribed medication, or in my case, a new medical procedure. JimB.
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I believe many, if not all, vaccines and prescription drugs have some bad side effects, some which can lead to death. Everyday I see numerous commercials on TV pushing prescription drugs and shake my head when they get to the list of possible side effects, stroke, blindness, death, etc.

My husband and I are fully vaxxed and boosted, intend to get one more when it's available. Our side effects went from none to extremely mild. Our family, friends and neighbors have had the same experience. I have a family member who died from Covid early on, before he could get the vaccine. I wish he had quicker access to it early in the pandemic.
 

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