I can't force anyone to make decisions about their body they're not comfortable with, but respectfully, I think that those people are misinformed to death. Unless you have a medical reason (immune compromised) to not get vaccinated there's no good reason not to.

The data shows that with vaccination, hospitalization rates drop significantly. You can still get covid with vaccination, of course (this is not a unique feature of the covid vaccines BTW), but the chances of you getting it drop significantly. If you do end up contracting it, the chances of the infection being life-threatening drop SIGNIFICANTLY compared to without vaccination.

People wanna talk about covid having a 99% survival rate? I hope you have talked to enough people who have survived with covid because it looks like even many survivors of covid aren't having a good time!!! Long haul covid is real... "long term effects" of a vaccine are not. Any [RARE] adverse reactions that may result from a vaccine present themselves early, not long term.

Y'all wanna talk about the vaccine being rushed? Covid is not the only coronavirus that exists. SARS and MERS outbreaks of the past have given researchers an extra several years of head start, and when the international bureaucratic priority for COVID kicked in, we had so many resources and people working on the same problem that it was inevitable that an effective vaccine would be developed quickly. Y'all ever work in research before? I have (and do currently), and I can tell you that so many things could get done at the speed of light if regular scientific research received the bureaucratic and funding priority that covid received.

Y'all wanna talk about "why do i have to get vaccinated if i mask up everywhere?" Why should you have airbags if you already wear a seatbelt? Risk mitigation is multilayered.

Y'all wanna talk about "i don't want the vaccine bc idk what's in it, what if it changes my DNA"? Of course you don't know what's in it. You fuckers don't even know what mRNA is. Well let me tell u something. mRNA is NOTORIOUSLY UNSTABLE AND DESIGNED TO DEGRADE QUICKLY. I did RNA work when I was in grad school and there's this running joke about working with RNA in the lab: "if you look at it wrong, it'll degrade." That's because mRNA in a normal cell is meant to be a transient messenger of information. It contains a small transcript of a DNA segment, it gets exported from the nucleus of the cell, the message gets translated into a protein at a ribosome, then the RNA degrades. That's how it works. With the vaccine, because the mRNA is coated in lipid nanoparticles you obviously skip the nuclear export step, but all the same -- the mRNA gets translated at a ribosome and then it degrades. NOTICE HOW IT WONT ENTER UR NUCLEUS!!!!!!!! That's why mRNA from the vaccines CANNOT change your DNA! RNA does NOT get imported back into the nucleus for any reason whatsoever. And even if it did, I fail to see how it could enact any changes in DNA.

Unless an honorary biologist here has information I don't, me and my biology degree will be screaming about this bullshit while we stay in a pandemic for the next year because ppl won't get vaccinated. see ya

I really don’t know, but the “I’m not selfish, it’s my body my choice” argument parroted ad nausea just doesn’t cut it. We’re not speaking about getting a nose job or a tattoo here: we’re speaking about YOU needlessly passing on a virus that could very easily make someone (or even a whole group of someones) unwell/seriously ill/disabled/dead. It’s like a sickness lucky dip really. “Which symptoms will you get?!” spins the virus wheel “Lucky you got no symptoms! Yeah… unfortunately the same can’t be said for the disabled cousin you saw a couple of weeks ago who got the full spectrum and has since shuffled off this mortal coil… But, hey, that’s the way the cookie crumbles, right? Right?!”

I don’t know when people became so worried about their health (or certain aspects of their health) that they decided that getting the therapy was actually worse than getting the disease. When we stopped dying of smallpox? When children could play in water without the possibility of ending up dead/deformed/disabled for life? When babies didn’t have to suffer and die gasping so hard for breath they made an awful once-heard-never-forgotten whooping sound?

When exactly did we become so learned about the dangers posed by vaccines that we totally forgot about the dangers posed by the diseases they were designed to wipe out? Why worry about a vaccine and not the shit, artificial, chemical-laden food you shovel down your throat every single day? Or the array of noxious gases you happily suck in every time you get in your filthy polluting car to drive somewhere you’re quite capable of walking to? Or the powerful narcotics you hastily neck at the tiniest promise of pain? If simply not caring about how YOU can pass on a totally preventable illness that could prove fatal to the girl at the checkout who has to ring through your cheap-shit burgers and beer on a Friday night isn’t selfish, then what the hell is? Because I cannot for the life of me come up with any other reason.

I respect personal choice, but for public health to work - people can't be selfish. Think of it like Swiss cheese, the more holes in it, the easier time a disease has to infect and harm the population (including your loved ones and mine). So outside of selfishness what are the sub-reasons? Religious need - please Google 'COVID outbreak in Church', most religions teach respect for others - and vaccines are a part of it. Fear of needles? I can respect that, but know there are means to make things easier for you (my mum is one of these carers to help anxious people - they do a lot) if the fear is too much - fine, but please give it a go. Concern for whats in the vaccine? The technology is based on research over 40 years old and has been tested in away to make it as safe as possible for the common public (granted they've not tested it for all biological eventualities yet such as reactive conditions - if you're one of them, make an enquiry with your GP and see what can and can't be done). However, the key thing is that everything is toxic based on certain dosages, but the reality is - you don't worry about other things like, air, medicines and other toxins (like the food you eat), so its a weird hill to die on - at least this substance has had the worlds best scientists examining it. Its a political weapon/programming/conspiracy? Look at the needles they use - they aren't big enough for chips, politicians on both sides have taken the vaccines, as for the fear stuff... I do think the fire has been stocked on the fear around COVID 19, however it is still very much dangerous to a lot of people (so again, don't be selfish). Finally, the risks of the vaccine... this one - yep there is risk, for me there was a 1 in 1000 chance of getting bells palsy - which would suck to get. But risk is a part of life (avoid it like avoiding bridges to swim in shark infested water - pick a risk, both sides have consequences) everything has been done to make it as safe as possible, you can avoid the risk, but due to public health it just puts your personal risk on to others (hence why I find it selfish) - some of which might not be able to handle the virus better than you... so again, don't be selfish. TL;DR While I support personal choice, I think for the sake of public health it is important not to be selfish unless there are really good reasons (i.e. you have a rare condition and been advised not to take it by a GP, you have an extreme fear of needles).