My dad gets the flu shot each year. He’s not an anti-vaxxer. The COVID shot seems different though.
My dad still refuses to get a vaccine because all he hears is mis- and disinformation. He’s recently changed to “leaning toward getting the shot,” which is great, but he wants to drive another family member around this weekend who is currently suffering from COVID-19.
Being open and honest with him, I told him the most likely outcome for him, and even held back on how grim his particular prognosis would likely be given his risk factors. But people don’t want to hear the reality.
That reality is that these vaccines are, statistically, safe and effective for the vast majority of the population. (I know that you weren’t asserting otherwise, and that you aren’t in that majority.) There comes a point when refusal to engage with that reality in typical circumstances becomes a dividing line. It might be fear driven for those who don’t have a contraindicated condition, but it’s hard not think of refusal by people in medically typical circumstances, at this point, to be precious and selfish.
