A Vaccine Reality Check
The scientific consensus is pretty clear. A foundational background in how communicable diseases work is all one needs to understand the science behind how Covid spreads. And knowing how the various covid vaccines work is no more difficult to access and understand.
When making decisions for yourself and your family, there are many internal biases that turn the decision making process a multi-factorial issue. I understand that we must respect someone’s decisions even if the decision was one made using non-evidence based sources, emotions, and/or total ignorance. I made the decision to birth alone before it became more broadly discussed in birthing circles, and it is a decision that many find unable to accept for themselves. I owned my decision along with all its potential outcomes. As someone who spent much of my formative years in a developing country, I am far more familiar with grittier life and death issues than most of my friends from WEIRD* countries are. Female bodily consent was a major theme in my master’s dissertation so as a sociolinguist I see this topic on many levels. Therefore my rationale around vaccines, as those with birthing alone, look different from my friends’ rationale in Australia, the UK, and the US. Whatever decision you make, it will have consequences for yourself and for others around you. That is the only certainty here.
I look with a jaundiced eye at those who have been offered free vaccines on a platter while many around the world are dying without the opportunity to have one. I am mildly intolerant of the whinge, yes it is a whinge, from those who are deciding to remain unvaccinated in the face of a pandemic. Businesses and governments are making decisions that ultimately correlate with scientifically settled and broader public health measures to provide the best outcome possible for the whole while limiting the freedoms of the unvaccinated. This is despite any cynical side eye they may deserve for the reasons that they are pushing vaccinating the majority of the population.
These decisions are not about you. They are made on a population based level, and you and I, we, are only numbers.
In the end, evolution and disease don't give a damn about the individual; no matter how exceptional our social acculturation has conditioned us to think we are. And whether a vaccine related injury or the virus takes you out, the end product is the same. You’re free to pick poison, and therefore pick your potential outcome.
*Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic
UPDATE: My 16 yr old has recently had her first vaccine - this was made a priority because coming to the end of high school, they want the 16-18’s in the classroom to take external exams and it counts towards protecting the masses rather than just the individual. The very young Nepali nurse who administered the dose sounded sincere when she thanked her for getting the vaccine. Then she talked about how many in Nepal are dying for lack of access to a vaccine. On the global scale, the offer of the vaccine is seen as a blessing, not a cynical ploy by companies and governments.
The Astra Zeneca vaccine costs about 3 USD to get into an arm. The company that has produced it says that it will remain accessible at a non-profit rate for the duration of the pandemic. The Pfizer vaccine costs about 20USD to get into an arm. The cost of the Pfizer is for profit.