Deal With It? – AGE OF AUTISM
By Cathy Jameson
When I’m bored, I go to Yahoo! to see what news has been posted. I know this is not the best place to get accurate or unbiased reports, but I’ll scan the page anyway. Most of the article titles lately sound like what I saw earlier on The Enquirer. When I was a kid, The Enquirer was more of a gossip than a newspaper. Still, I loved seeing it in the grocery store. While mom was putting our food on the assembly line, I watched the wild headlines.
Man they were wild!
Headings are designed to grab readers’ attention. One of them got my attention on the Yahoo! Main page last week: How to deal with friends who won’t get vaccinated
I know what to do for myself and my family, so I feel absolutely no pressure reading this. However, I clicked the link to see how others “deal” with this situation because I was overwhelmed by curiosity.
When I read the very short article, I quickly found two false statements:
– Unvaccinated people have a higher risk of contraction [of COVID19] as vaccinated.
– your reasoning [to not get the vaccine] is rooted in emotions rather than science.
A recent news report by the BBC proves that vaccinated people can get the disease, and data gathered by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) shows that adults research vaccine science before making a decision. Their reasons for the decline are legitimate concerns not only about side effects, but also about the novelty of the vaccine. Other reasons to say no are that some just don’t want the vaccine. Some don’t trust the government and some think they don’t need the vaccine. For all these important reasons aside, I agreed with this part of this article when the author shared:
-Your social boundaries must be respected
Yes! These! All day!
… you can ask for it [the unvaccinated] respect your boundaries, just as you respect theirs by not pressuring them to get you vaccinated.
Yes again!
Please, if this short article can teach you anything, leave it with you – don’t pressure someone to get a vaccine they don’t want or need.
Most of the people I know who haven’t decided to get a COVID vaccine yet won’t get one. You can harass them, bribe them, jeopardize their rights, or give them any terrible name under the sun. You still won’t get shot. It’s not because they don’t hesitate (Oxford language definition of hesitation: hesitant, insecure, or slow in acting or speaking). It’s because they don’t want it.
Your reasons for opting out of the COVID19 shots are not based on emotions as suggested in the article, but could be based on one current medical condition. It may be from a previous vaccination experience, either from you or from someone close to you. Of course, emotions can come into play when weighing the pros and cons, but emotions are not the driving force. You have thought this through, as those from KFF asked, and will not be deterred. Several of the commentators responded to Yahoo! Article seemed to agree. They said one more thing: if you got the vaccine, why are you worried that others don’t have it? Does that mean that you, the vaccinated, don’t really believe they are working?
That seems to be the $ 64,000 question.
The first time I saw the short article last week, I had to laugh. Not mean, but I laughed because the urge to get everyone vaccinated is everywhere, even in the lifestyle section of an online newspaper. Before reading it, I paused and wondered if the article would go down enough to mention the unvaccinated names. Fortunately, they didn’t do it, but others threatened or reprimanded them. Some in the office have also provided false information to get everyone vaccinated.
“I promise you the disease is worse than the vaccine. I can’t make it any clearer. The disease is much worse than the vaccine and we urgently need you to get vaccinated, ”the governor said Thursday during the tapping of his monthly new conference on PBS Utah in Salt Lake City.
The recovery rate for COVID19 is between 97-99% depending on the source. The death toll from COVID19 vaccines stands at 10,991 (July 16, 2021) and is increasing. Source: Open VAERSThis number may pale compared to other COVID19 statistics, but 10,991 reported deaths from experimental vaccines launched just months ago should raise more eyebrows than it currently does.
People are concerned. Some are worried about COVID19 and others are worried about getting one of the experimental vaccines this may or may not work. People want answers no matter what is causing their concerns. It won’t help pitting one group against the other. This can and has made matters worse. Can that be fixed? Of course it can. How? My suggestions would be to help each group deal with their concerns with facts, not fear.
Use positive language instead of humiliating threats and unfounded terms like “death lottery”.
Help them know all the facts – prevention is possible and there is treatment for the disease.
And finally, let people make their own decisions. Forcing a risky medical procedure on the entire population is archaic and has no place in today’s world.
Cathy Jameson is co-editor for Age of Autism.
