Why Is It Bad If I Don't Get Vaccinated?

[Tree of Life]

Bill in New York State Assembly seeks to empower health department to mandate COVID-19 vaccine

Wherever there have been mask mandates there will be vaccine mandates. This isn't surprising. Many vaccines have been mandated for a long time. My family and I don't vaccinate at all so we will not be getting the COVID vaccine. I'm always a little confused as to why this is such a problem for public health. Help me understand. Isn't it the case that:

1. A successful vaccine prevents the vaccinated person from getting sick.
2. Most people will become vaccinated.

If (1) is true, then why does my refusal to get vaccinated threaten public health? I understand that I may be more at risk of getting sick because I forgo a vaccine, but how is it that others are harmed if I am not vaccinated? Does your vaccine no longer work if I don't get vaccinated?

 

[RaymondG]

I agree, I stopped getting vaccinated as well. I believe that God can keep me healthy without it....And I am not one who gets sick.

That being said, If I am forced to take this one, I will take it with no fear because I also believe that God will protect me from any poison that may be in it.

 

[PloverWing]

If you get sick with COVID-19, it can endanger me in two ways:

1) Many vaccines are less than 100% effective -- they give less than perfect immunity. Even if I've been vaccinated, there may be a small chance that I could still catch COVID-19 from you. (Note that this varies, depending on the particular vaccine. I haven't studied the effectiveness rate of the new COVID vaccines.)

2) Maybe I have a health condition that makes it unsafe for me to be vaccinated. In that case, I am vulnerable to catching COVID-19 from you.

These items are the reasons behind vaccine mandates.

 

[Sketcher]

If you spread the illness to someone who cannot get vaccinated due to special health reasons, you're harming that person and their family. If fewer people get vaccinated by choice, this becomes more likely.

 

[Tree of Life]

If you get sick with COVID-19, it can endanger me in two ways:

1) Many vaccines are less than 100% effective -- they give less than perfect immunity. Even if I've been vaccinated, there may be a small chance that I could still catch COVID-19 from you. (Note that this varies, depending on the particular vaccine. I haven't studied the effectiveness rate of the new COVID vaccines.)

The COVID vaccine is allegedly 90% effective.

So you're saying that the vaccine does not provide perfect immunity for the person who is vaccinated. So therefore I should also obtain an imperfect immunity from a vaccination?

2) Maybe I have a health condition that makes it unsafe for me to be vaccinated. In that case, I am vulnerable to catching COVID-19 from you.

But if most people are going to get vaccinated then who am I going to catch it from? Maybe let's just you and I not hang out?

These items are the reasons behind vaccine mandates.

Those aren't all that compelling to me.

 

[Tree of Life]

If you spread the illness to someone who cannot get vaccinated due to special health reasons, you're harming that person and their family. If fewer people get vaccinated by choice, this becomes more likely.

That's got to be a small number we're talking about there. What percentage of the population is unable to get vaccinated but would like to get vaccinated if they could? 1%? Less than 1%?

 

[marc b]

The virus can still infest the nasal passages of vaccinated people and can still infect others. The argument of "not infecting others" doesn't work.

 

[expos4ever]

The COVID vaccine is allegedly 90% effective.

So you're saying that the vaccine does not provide perfect immunity for the person who is vaccinated. So therefore I should also obtain an imperfect immunity from a vaccination?

It is simple math - even if the vaccine is less than 100% effective, as all vaccines are, the more people who get it, the better off we all are.

 

[Tree of Life]

It is simple math - even if the vaccine is less than 100% effective, as all vaccines are, the more people who get it, the better off we all are.

How is that?

 

[Tree of Life]

The virus can still infest the nasal passages of vaccinated people and can still infect others. The argument of "not infecting others" doesn't work.

Furthermore the vaccine does not prevent people from carrying and spreading the disease. It only prevents people from getting sick.

 

[expos4ever]

How is that?

Let's assume the vaccine is 90% effective, but only 50 % of the population take it. This would mean that only 45 % of all people would be safe since only 90% of the 50% who take it would be protected.

Suppose I am one of the 5 in 50 who get the vaccine but that it doesn't work in me. I am now at risk from you and the others who make up the 50% who refused to get the vaccine. I am also at risk from the other 4 in 100 who took the vaccine but for whom it was ineffective. But nothing can be done about that.

It is simply not responsible to not get vaccinated, unless:

1. You are one of the very few who cannot get vaccinated;
2. You are willing to withdraw from society until the pandemic ends.

With rights come responsibilities.

 

[Tree of Life]

Let's assume the vaccine is 90% effective, but only 50 % of the population take it. This would mean that only 45 % of all people would be safe since only 90% of the 50% who take it would be protected.

Safe from a virus that has a 99% survival rate?

Suppose I am one of the 5 in 50 who get the vaccine but that it doesn't work in me. I am now at risk from you and the others who make up the 50% who refused to get the vaccine. I am also at risk from the other 4 in 100 who took the vaccine but for whom it was ineffective. But nothing can be done about that.

You're also at risk from people for whom the vaccine was effective but who are still carrying and transmitting the virus.

It is simply not responsible to not get vaccinated, unless:

1. You are one of the very few who cannot get vaccinated;
2. You are willing to permanently withdraw from society.

With rights come responsibilities.

In the words of The Dude, "that's just, like, you're opinion, man."

 

[expos4ever]

Furthermore the vaccine does not prevent people from carrying and spreading the disease. It only prevents people from getting sick.

I doubt this is true - do you have any evidence to support this claim. It may be partially true, but I would be shocked if the vaccine does not reduce transmission as well as illness.

 

[timothyu]

No host - no virus. But all it took was one host to infect the world. Isolation no longer works as communities are no longer pocketed. But I agree, if 99% get vaccinated (providing there is nothing nefarious about it) then the remaining 1% are only a danger to themselves.

 

[expos4ever]

In the words of The Dude, "that's just, like, you're opinion, man."

No. It is a fact.

When you refuse to get vaccinated, you put others at risk (unless you withdraw from society).

Please explain to us exactly how it is not irresponsible to put others at risk.

 

[loveofourlord]

Furthermore the vaccine does not prevent people from carrying and spreading the disease. It only prevents people from getting sick.

And makes it shorter and less likely to be able to spread. It doesn't mean I might not infect someone else, it means I'm doing my job to avoid it.

 

[Tree of Life]

I doubt this is true - do you have any evidence to support this claim. It may be partially true, but I would be shocked if the vaccine does not reduce transmission as well as illness.

Can a COVID-19 Vaccine Stop the Spread? Good Question.

 

[Tree of Life]

No. It is a fact.

When you refuse to get vaccinated, you put others at risk (unless you withdraw from society).

Please explain to us exactly how it is not irresponsible to put others at risk.

Both vaccinated and unvaccinated people are able to transmit the disease. Unvaccinated people do not pose a special risk toward those who are vaccinated that is not also posed by vaccinated people.

 

[Tree of Life]

Here’s Why Vaccinated People Still Need to Wear a Mask

 

[timothyu]

Out here on the prairies we've lost a lot of friends/relatives in this second wave over the last few weeks, all of which seem to have had compromised systems of some sort, from children to seniors, while 98 year olds in good health have survived. So targeted as the virus may be (and possibly created to be so) upon folks who were perhaps on their ways out anyway, do we have a right to sacrifice them? Are we then any better than the virus? This is basically germ warfare and it's us or them. Regarding vaccines, we are damned if we do and damned if we don't. We need to place responsibility over rights, even if it compromises our freedoms and opens the doors to oppression until the only One who can truly save us shows up.