There is an awful lot of wrong information out there about vaccines in general and the Coronavirus vaccines in particular. Much of this wrong information is put out by those who are hostile to the idea of vaccination per se, despite vaccination being the means that horrific diseases like Smallpox and Polio are, or are about to be, consigned to the medical history books. Some of this poor quality information about vaccination is being distributed by those who don’t have much knowledge about microbiology but who are willing to believe plausible sounding claims, dressed up in ‘medical-ese’ words, from those with anti-vaccination agendas. There are also others who are pushing an anti covid vaccination line for their own political reasons and they can come from either the political Left or the political Right.
To counter the misinformation out there about covid vaccines I thought that I would tell my story of my second covid vaccination with the Astra Zeneca vaccine.
On Monday the 9th August I went to my covid vaccination appointment at a local municipal building. The process was extremely efficient and there were not, as far as I could make out, any issues with infection control.
After queuing to get into see the vaccination nurse and going through checks to confirm my identity and my NHS number I felt it proper to tell her that I had fainted on a number of previous occasions twenty odd years ago when either being vaccinated or having blood taken for a test. I was subjected to an extensive and thorough health questioning.
I was asked about my general health, have I had any colds or other respiratory illnesses recently. What vaccines I have had as an adult and when. Have I had any recent surgery and am I expecting any future surgery. I was asked about any problems encountered with the healing of wounds and whether there was anything abnormal about the way my blood clots. Questions about diabetes, bee sting and other allergies and other health issues mostly it seemed related to immunosuppression followed. I was also allowed the opportunity to ask questions about the vaccine and any possible side effects.
This is just a part of what was an extensive pre-vaccination health check. Although I have little time and a lot of criticism for the National Health Service, on this occasion I was impressed. I noticed the health questioning for my second vaccination against covid was much more intense and detailed. I suspect that this was because the NHS is taking the very tiny risk of blood clots linked to the Astra Zeneca vaccine very seriously indeed and although the risk is in the one in tens of thousands range, this situation is being closely monitored. I hope that my observation that this very tiny risk of blood clots that might be linked to the Astra Zeneca vaccine is being taken seriously by the NHS will calm the fears of some people.
At my request, because of the needle-phobia issue that I have, I had the nurse draw up the vaccination into the syringe in the next room where I didn’t have to see it. She returned, engaged me in conversation about my day in order to distract me and vaccinated me. It was swift and painless and as before, the vaccination process was one of the few times when I’ve actually felt like a proper customer of the NHS rather than just scum, a negative experience that has been had by not just myself but by a number of my relatives.
After the vaccine I was, because I drove to the vaccination centre, asked to wait for fifteen minutes before driving home to check to see if I was one of the rare individuals who had a negative reaction to the vaccine. As there was for me, as is the case with the vast majority of others who’ve had covid vaccines, no immediate reaction due to allergies to any of the components of the vaccine, after the required fifteen minutes I started the car, called my wife on the radio to say that I was OK and to get the kettle on before I headed off home.
It would be dishonest of me to say that the vaccine had no side affects, all medicines do. However these side effects were very very minor and were ones that I expected to get having studied the scientific literature on the Astra Zeneca vaccine extensively. I had, as was to be expected, a bit of soreness and tenderness around the injection site and I was a bit rough, to the level that one would get from a common cold, for 24 hours. I had a bit of a raised temperature and felt a little lethargic but these were side affects I was expecting and had prepared for. I have had none of the side affect horror stories that abound on social media many of which I believe are either false, not linked directly to the vaccine or are the one in a million or more bad reaction cases that those opposed to vaccination are amplifying out of all proportion.
One thing that I would like to make absolutely clear about my experience with the vaccination clinic is that the need for the consent of the person being vaccinated was made absolutely clear. There was no hint whatsoever of coercion and it was explained to me on several occasions during the appointment that I could say ‘no’ at any time. The need for me to actively consent and approve was both accepted and clearly communicated.
My experience of my vaccination appointment was generally good and the side affects of the vaccine were well within the bounds of what I expected to have. If you are medically able to be vaccinated (something that you should discuss with your GP or other medical provider) then in my opinion you should. The current vaccines may not be as effective against all viral variants that are out there and may not be as effective as many would like in stopping transmission but they do stop protect you from the more serious complications of Covid, complications that include disablement and death.
As I said at the beginning of the Covid crisis, ultimately vaccination is the only way out of the world’s Covid problem, just as vaccination has made diseases like Polio a distant and horrific memory in places like the UK. We do not have effective treatments to stop Covid or reverse the damage that it does and those who foolishly believe that Ivermectin sheep dip is a cure are quite plainly fools. However what we do have are effective and safe vaccines that can protect people from the ravages of a disease that the world has not previously seen and for which there is little or no natural immunity. I’ve had suspected Covid in early 2020 and believe me, it’s awful. It’s much better to be vaccinated than to have breathing difficulties and have problems speaking, which is what happened to me when I contracted suspected Covid.
As I discussed with you before Joshua, people are put off by a lot of what governments tell them because of their experiences. The trouble is there is little trust between public and government so when something genuinely life saving comes along people think it’s again a lie.
Too many times people have taken the advice or treatment from government/NHS/ professionals etc and have been fobbed off or severely let down.
Genuinity goes a long way in cases like this.
Your ‘fool me once’ comment is sadly correct. We have been lied to by government on a number of occasions. Sometimes, as with the tragedy of Exercise Tiger, the dry run for D Day during World War II, the lies the government told about it after it happened were absolutely necessary in order to keep the element of surprise when D Day actually happened. However other occasions where the government has lied, such as with the tainted blood scandal of the 70’s and 80’s, or the issue of the Grooming Gangs, such lies are not acceptable as they are not lies for national security, but lies to avoid compensating people for harm done or to protect bad public servants or bad policies.
I came to my decision about the safety of covid vaccines not by listening to an entity that I despise, the NHS, but through examination of what scientists and medics who know far more than I do have said. I still think that the covid catastrophe could have been handled better and a lot of blame for the errors that have been made, at least in the UK, is down to a lack of preparedness and a concentration by PHE on influenza rather than a potential novel virus. At the beginning I assumed that the various organs of govt had wargamed the prospect of a novel virus just as the civil service wargames what would happen if a terrorist attack or a natural disaster disrupted their normal work and working environment, but I was horrified to find out that too little had been done to work out what to do if there was the appearance of a novel virus.
Genuinity does in deed go a long way which is why I don’t rely on grifters like Ivor Cummings for information but time served and trustworthy medics like the people behind the Respectful Insolence site. https://respectfulinsolence.com/