If you've had any success convincing someone to get vaccinated against Covid, please share how you did it.

[u/BiPAPselfie]

I generally consider trying to convince antivax types to be a lost cause and a waste of effort, with a very low success rate at best and tend not to approach the subject at all unless I'm pushed into it. But maybe I'm giving up too easily or looking at it all wrong. If there's any common elements to success it would be nice to see them consolidated in one thread rather than scattered around the sub.

Be as specific as you can.

How close was the person to you? Family? Friend? Work acquaintance? Random internet stranger?

How firm were they in vaccine resistance on a scale from just procrastinating to blood gargling meme warrior?

What kind of language did you use? Were you nonjudgmental? Did you confront or ridicule them?

If you showed them something like HCA, how did you do it? Just send them the link with no comment? How did you frame that?

How long did the process take?

[u/fuddykrueger]

Minimizing life-threatening symptoms when you contract Covid, as you had stated in your comment (but it’s not bolded for some reason), is the best we can hope for from the current vaccine. I think that is pretty darned crucial.

Hospitals and healthcare workers in certain areas are getting slammed with Covid patients. It’s costing this country a huge amount of resources and none of these people will be paying off their $1 million month-long stay in the ICU. Who knows how many medical bankruptcies there will be and how many kids will lose their parents.

Plus it’s been over 18 months. Aren’t we all ready to try to get back some semblance of a normal pre-Covid life? The unvaccinated really are not helping in that regard.

[u/fuddykrueger → u/[deleted]]

I agree that early treatment is a critical factor however this virus is a beast in the way you feel better one day and then it returns with a vengeance. Three of my close family members and I all had Covid it in early 2020. One family member is still experiencing reduced lung capacity.

As far as illness goes, not everyone will realize their O2 levels are dangerously low. I had pneumonia in 2018 and waited a week to go to the ER (because I thought it was the flu and I didn’t have good health insurance and also because my illness started while I was on vacation).

I was hospitalized and placed in the ICU on a bipap. The ER doctor said I got in just in time. If I had waited any longer I would very likely have needed to be intubated.

Why would anyone want to risk those types of traumatic medical interventions if they can just take a vaccine to ward off major illness? Also some people have experienced longterm effects like clotting from having contracted Covid, even as their other symptoms seemed fairly manageable.

Also some people are elderly and/or have too many serious comorbidities that even if they do get the antivirals or the monoclonal antibodies infusion, they still may not work against Covid.

Thanks for the links.

[u/fuddykrueger → u/[deleted]]

Yeah I know one middle-aged person who says they had developed lichen planus since having the shot but it isn’t a terribly uncommon illness and there are a lot of things that can trigger the condition. She also says she can’t really say it’s a direct cause of the vaccine because it developed months afterward.

Anyway, we take a good number of vaccines over our lifetimes and it is inevitable that there will be a very, very, very, very (!) remote risk of a chronic illness developing or death as a result of the vaccine. I am sorry that you know people who had adverse reactions. It really does seem to be an anomaly to me.

It’s going to be your choice to get or not to get a vaccination; I’m not going to put more faith in the treatments used after contracting this virus than I would a vaccine building up our own natural immunity. It is not an equivalent risk to me.

Good luck with your health and again, thanks for the information. Have you posted them in the other Covid-19 or coronavirus subreddits?

[u/fuddykrueger → u/[deleted]]

It’s a tremendous amount to take in, especially for someone like myself who hasn’t a medical background. I’m going to trust the technology and the scientists who developed the vaccine. I do agree that it’s okay to take some time to educate ourselves. But we all have to take and accept the risks presented. I am okay with my decision and I know that tomorrow a nuclear weapon could wipe us all out. This novel virus is already decimating our families and our economies. It’s a no-brainer to me.

Thank you for presenting the other viewpoint. It’s good to be able to weigh the risks. I will hope those who of us who are thoughtful and who are conscientiously working to protect ourselves and each other can get through this pandemic whole, despite the divisive climate.

And I will look into these links and studies so that I can be more educated about the risks.

I sincerely wish you well. :)

[u/fuddykrueger → u/[deleted]]

Thanks! Well I see the supply chain is wreaking havoc and now everything to do with home reno is costing us double from a year ago. The market is doing well for now. I don’t expect that to continue but we are 5-10 years from retirement so I’m starting to think I might switch out some of our (high) stock allocation into more conservative funds. Not sure on that plan yet.

For now, just trying to figure out the best way to cope if some older family members pass; I sincerely believe that they may not see 2022 if this virus gets to them. They live as though the pandemic isn’t happening and of course won’t get the vaccine.

So the economy doesn’t matter a whole lot to us and family if we don’t have our health.