Borrowed from a friend: I'm FULLY vaccinated, and....

[thewayne]

I'm FULLY vaccinated and, no, I don't know what's in it - neither this vaccine, the ones I had as a child, nor in the 11 secret herbs and spices at KFC, or hot dogs, or other treatments … whether it's for cancer, AIDS, the vaccine for pneumonia, or vaccines for infants or children.

I also don't know what's in Ibuprofen, Tylenol, or other meds, it just cures my headaches & my pains.

I don't know what's in the ink for tattoos, vaping, Botox and fillers, or every ingredient in my soap or shampoo or even deodorants.

I don’t know the long term effect of mobile phone use or whether or not that restaurant I just ate at REALLY used clean foods and washed their hands.

In short ...
There's a lot of things I don't know and never will …
I just know one thing: life is short, very short, and I still want to do something other than just staying locked in my home.

I still want to travel and hug people without fear and find a little feeling of life "before".
As a child and as an adult I've been vaccinated for mumps, measles, polio, chickenpox, and quite a few others; my parents and I trusted the science and never had to suffer through or transmit any of the said diseases and, I'm vaccinated, not to please the government but:

To not die from Covid-19.

To NOT clutter a hospital bed if I get sick.

To hug my loved ones

To Not have to do PCR or antigenic tests to go to a restaurant, go on holidays and many more things to come ...

To live my life.

To see and hug my family and friends

For Covid-19 to be an old memory.

To protect us.

Copied. Feel free to do the same.

Comments

[dewline]

Haven't gotten my third dose arranged yet, but otherwise...agreed.

[kathmandu]

I'm very glad I got my booster just before Omicron hit town.

[thewayne]

Yup.  Om is apparently not as lethal in and of itself, but super-virulent.  And those increased numbers will cause more deaths.  And apparently being double-vaxxed plus boosted is reportedly pretty good proof against Om.  The UK has reported its first death from Om, but they haven't released any details such as age and co-morbidities.

[kathmandu]

That "apparently" is pure appearance.

We had exactly this same public dialogue at the beginning of the last wave, and the one before it: "Cases are rising rapidly, but hospitalizations and deaths aren't, so maybe it's less dangerous?"

What actually happens is that it takes up to 2 weeks for symptoms to appear after infection, and then another ~2 weeks to get desperate enough for a hospital, and then usually 2-6 weeks for the ones who are losing their battles to start dying. In the early stages of a wave, we see the infection rate, but we don't see the hospital and death rate because those rise later.

[thewayne]

There's always the two week lag, granted.  It had been detected in larger quantities in other countries before it hit the USA without a large increase in deaths.  Problem is that so few countries are doing statistically significant gene typing that it's hard to accurately know how pervasive different variants are in a country to really know how deadly they are.

[moonhare]

“I'm vaccinated, not to please the government but:

[not] To not die from Covid-19.”

Right? I know I can still catch it and get sick, but I don’t expect to succumb to COVID-19. And as others mention, I am boosted, as is my wife, and very thankful for this!

[thewayne]

Exactly.  Greatly reduced risk of dying from it.  Gov't didn't tell me to, I WANTED THE VACCINE.

[moonhare]

I rapid-tested today due to a “close contact” incident, and came back negative! The other person was due for their booster next week when they caught this.

We have two people out from the library due to “close contacts.” I followed CDC recommendations and only got tested when I felt I might have symptoms.

And yes, Happy Day of all Days!

[thewayne]

I'm planning on ordering a couple more test kits as we're going to Phoenix next Thursday, and I know my wife will want to test before she goes to work for NYE.  I won't test before I go back to work on the 4th, but it's nice to have a couple on-hand. And thank you!

[rain_gryphon]

I'm quite thankful to have been vaccinated, but then I'm 60 years old, and would probably die if I got COVID. I'm long past reproductive age (not that that was ever an issue with me anyway), and even in the unlikely event some delayed effect from the vaccine kills me in a few years, I'll come out ahead anyway.

Were I in my 20s or 30s, I'm sure I'd perceive the risks as balancing out much differently.

Happy Birthday, BTW!

[thewayne]

With my immune disorder, I'm definitely high-risk if I get the virus!  I'm happy to be vaxxed and boosted. I wonder if more male anti-vaxxers and the vax hesitant would rush to get it if the numbers of people who develop erectile dysfunction after having had Covid were more widely known. :-) And thank you!  I had a photo, and now two, that I wanted to post today, but I made the mistake of updating the software that drives my photo blog, and while it still works just fine it won't let me upload photos!!!

[rain_gryphon]

I don't see much driving up the vaccination rate at this point. Had the truth about the vaccine been told from the beginning - that it's experimental, and it may kill some people, and cause other problems, but it's an emergency, and seems the safest route - that might have made a difference. It's way too late now.

[thewayne]

Agreed.  There's still a number who will get vaxxed, and they can increase the numbers of vaccinating kids as the study data becomes known which will help.  And I'm sure some of the vax-resistent will get vaccinated, but not in sufficient numbers.  As quick as Om spreads and strikes, it's not going to make a diff.

[silveradept]

It's one of the most aggravating things flying over the heads of many that the more everyone gets the shot, the faster everything goes back to the way they want it to be before there was a pandemic.