5 ms·

Serious question: if you're a young person with no health issues, should you even get the vaccine?

hashmush 6y ago
Yes.
noir_lord 6y ago
Yes, There are two primary things to consider the Risk/Benefit to yourself and the Risk/Benefit to those around you. The answer is still yes for both cases, long term covid damage is bad at any age and so is taking out a grandparent, co-worker you like.
- refurb 6y ago
  the Risk/Benefit to those around you But there is a limited supply. At least in the short-term, if I get a dose, that means someone else doesn't get one. If someone around me is at risk, then they should get vaccinated and I should defer if my risk is low.
  - Latty 6y ago
    Generally it isn't on the individual to try to weigh something like that up. Here in the UK, at least, the Vaccine will be offered to people in order, so if you are offered it, there would be no reason to defer—others who need it more should have been offered it before you and you accepting won't deny them anything.
  - cr1895 6y ago
    This is why countries and public health departments are discussing and agreeing on who gets a vaccination first - people in care homes, front-line health workers, or perhaps even young, healthy people because they heavily drive the spread. I don't think there's a situation anywhere where it's a free-for-all. Personally, I will take the vaccine as soon as it's made available to me. Even if my risk is perhaps low (which may or may not be true), taking the vaccine reduces the chance that I would spread COVID to someone else. It's a collective effort to reduce the spread, not an individual or selfish one.
- rebuilder 6y ago
  We don't yet know whether the vaccines prevent infection and transmission AFAIK.
  - castis 6y ago
    it would prevent infection and transmission as much as any other vaccine would. you're just priming your immune system to handle something its not actually seen before. you can still get the virus, it will still affect you, but your immune system will recognize and deal with it much much faster. thinking logically, if you are given the virus, your body will still make copies for a short amount of time and you would still be able to give it to someone else. getting the vaccine makes the window of opportunity much smaller and dramatically lowers the risk that you will die from it.
    - rebuilder 6y ago
      I was going by this paper in the Lancet, where they note that it's not clear if the vaccines will provide sterilising immunity in the upper airways: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31976-0/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6... This is from September, though, so maybe more is known about that now. I haven't seen news about that, however.
simonbarker87 6y ago
Yes, some young people with health issues can’t get vaccines of various kinds and they rely on herd immunity. One of the really sad things about the anti-vaccine movement is the people who are now at risk for things that they can’t get vaccinated against through normal fault of their own because herd immunity is reduced.
Slartie 6y ago
Serious answer: yes!
bengale 6y ago
Yes, but as with all of these things, if you're nervous have a chat with your GP.
newguy1234 6y ago
Yes we basically need everyone to get it who is willing to get it because we want to eradicate as much of the virus in the population as possible. Also as a society we need to encourage everyone to get the vaccine and do whatever possible to suppress anti-vaccine hysteria, you know the conspiracy theories are already going to go crazy over this I'm sure.
- umanwizard 6y ago
  Is there any evidence that the vaccine reduces your risk of getting and spreading the disease? I’ve only heard that it decreases the severity.
  - bawolff 6y ago
    There is significant evidence that it prevents you getting the disease. That's the 95% efficacy everyone is talking about. Whether or not it fully prevents spreading has not been tested yet, but early signs sound positive.
  - fsh 6y ago
    The BioNTech/Pfizer press release mentions a reduction in confirmed cases (8 vs. 162), not in severity. There is no good reason why such an effective vaccine should not reduce the risk of spreading the disease. However, even a large phase 3 trial doesn't have enough statistics to answer this question.
    - umanwizard 6y ago
      Good to know!
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
fabian2k 6y ago
Assuming you're somewhere between 20 and 30, your risk of dying when contracting COVID-19 is somewhere around 0.01%, so 1 in 10,000. I'm not including the chance for severe side effects, hospitalization here (I don't know a good data source for those that is age-specific). That's a lot lower than the risk for older people, but it's still a somewhat high absolute risk. Personally, I'd get vaccinated. The risk even for young people is still there, and it's not that low. The source for these numbers is the following paper, specifically figure 2a: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2918-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2918-0
- LandR 6y ago
  > I'm not including the chance for severe side effects, hospitalization here (I don't know a good data source for those that is age-specific). From the Scottish Government figures.The hospitalization to confirmed cases breaks down like this for age: Age Cases Hospitilizations 0-4 1417 77 (5.4%) 5-14 3933 44 (1.1%) 15-19 7766 46 (0.5%) 20-24 9035 79 (0.8%) 25-44 28690 867 (3.0%) Everyone should get the vaccine.
  - totony 6y ago
    That's confirmed cases so take these figures with a grain of salt. E.g. those are (probably) upper bounds EDIT: Here are the stats for the seasonal flu: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/past-seasons.html https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/past-seasons.html tldr: 1-2% hospitalization average
stunt 6y ago
Even a doctor can't answer that without having access to your medical documents. So get advise from your doctor. Perhaps it depends on your "health issues". And, don't look for an answer from the internet anytime soon. I assume it depends on your condition. If you are lucky, they have tested it on people with similar conditions and there is data for it. Otherwise, they may still be able to measure the risk. If your doctor suggests that there is a risk because of your condition, then you have to calculate the risk of not taking it as well. How much risk is there for you with the vaccine? How long can you keep yourself safe from COVID19. That depends on your interactions with other people, your job, and people around you etc.
thinkingemote 6y ago
if you're a young person with no health issues you probably won't be on the list for getting the vaccine first (it's at risk groups and healthcare workers first) Also importantly and slightly paradoxically, if you are a young person who would eagerly volunteer to get a vaccine, it's likely that you are diligently compliant with all the other necessary rules like hand washing, masks, social distancing, and so the need for a vaccine would be even lower! Identifying those who would most benefit is hard. Those who would most benefit is not the same group as those who would jump at the chance of a vaccine.
nojito 6y ago
Of course. There are loads of young people with the weirdest post covid complications. https://www.cbsnews.com/video/covid-long-haulers-60-minutes-2020-11-22/ https://www.cbsnews.com/video/covid-long-haulers-60-minutes-...
mmcnl 6y ago
Yes, if you don't the virus you can't infect someone else. Vaccines are the quickest way to herd immunity, which is the safest layer of protection against the virus.
OneGuy123 6y ago
No. You cannot seriously belive such a rushed vaccine has been tested properly. If you're young you will get natural immunity from it sooner or later. No young person had any issues. More young people will be hurt by the vaccine than COVID.
- LandR 6y ago
  > No young person had any issues. This isn't true. In my country we've had 25-35 deaths in people under 45 from Covid-19. So the death rate is very very small, but its not zero. Including deaths of people under 25. These people may have had existing co-morbidities of course, but not all of them might have known they had those co-morbidities. A lot of hospitalizations of people under 45 too.

Yes.

Yes, There are two primary things to consider the Risk/Benefit to yourself and the Risk/Benefit to those around you. The answer is still yes for both cases, long term covid damage is bad at any age and so is taking out a grandparent, co-worker you like.

refurb 6y ago
the Risk/Benefit to those around you But there is a limited supply. At least in the short-term, if I get a dose, that means someone else doesn't get one. If someone around me is at risk, then they should get vaccinated and I should defer if my risk is low.
- Latty 6y ago
  Generally it isn't on the individual to try to weigh something like that up. Here in the UK, at least, the Vaccine will be offered to people in order, so if you are offered it, there would be no reason to defer—others who need it more should have been offered it before you and you accepting won't deny them anything.
- cr1895 6y ago
  This is why countries and public health departments are discussing and agreeing on who gets a vaccination first - people in care homes, front-line health workers, or perhaps even young, healthy people because they heavily drive the spread. I don't think there's a situation anywhere where it's a free-for-all. Personally, I will take the vaccine as soon as it's made available to me. Even if my risk is perhaps low (which may or may not be true), taking the vaccine reduces the chance that I would spread COVID to someone else. It's a collective effort to reduce the spread, not an individual or selfish one.
rebuilder 6y ago
We don't yet know whether the vaccines prevent infection and transmission AFAIK.
- castis 6y ago
  it would prevent infection and transmission as much as any other vaccine would. you're just priming your immune system to handle something its not actually seen before. you can still get the virus, it will still affect you, but your immune system will recognize and deal with it much much faster. thinking logically, if you are given the virus, your body will still make copies for a short amount of time and you would still be able to give it to someone else. getting the vaccine makes the window of opportunity much smaller and dramatically lowers the risk that you will die from it.
  - rebuilder 6y ago
    I was going by this paper in the Lancet, where they note that it's not clear if the vaccines will provide sterilising immunity in the upper airways: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31976-0/fulltext https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6... This is from September, though, so maybe more is known about that now. I haven't seen news about that, however.

simonbarker87 6y ago

Yes, some young people with health issues can’t get vaccines of various kinds and they rely on herd immunity. One of the really sad things about the anti-vaccine movement is the people who are now at risk for things that they can’t get vaccinated against through normal fault of their own because herd immunity is reduced.

Slartie 6y ago

Serious answer: yes!

bengale 6y ago

Yes, but as with all of these things, if you're nervous have a chat with your GP.

newguy1234 6y ago

Yes we basically need everyone to get it who is willing to get it because we want to eradicate as much of the virus in the population as possible. Also as a society we need to encourage everyone to get the vaccine and do whatever possible to suppress anti-vaccine hysteria, you know the conspiracy theories are already going to go crazy over this I'm sure.

umanwizard 6y ago
Is there any evidence that the vaccine reduces your risk of getting and spreading the disease? I’ve only heard that it decreases the severity.
- bawolff 6y ago
  There is significant evidence that it prevents you getting the disease. That's the 95% efficacy everyone is talking about. Whether or not it fully prevents spreading has not been tested yet, but early signs sound positive.
- fsh 6y ago
  The BioNTech/Pfizer press release mentions a reduction in confirmed cases (8 vs. 162), not in severity. There is no good reason why such an effective vaccine should not reduce the risk of spreading the disease. However, even a large phase 3 trial doesn't have enough statistics to answer this question.
  - umanwizard 6y ago
    Good to know!

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

fabian2k 6y ago

Assuming you're somewhere between 20 and 30, your risk of dying when contracting COVID-19 is somewhere around 0.01%, so 1 in 10,000. I'm not including the chance for severe side effects, hospitalization here (I don't know a good data source for those that is age-specific). That's a lot lower than the risk for older people, but it's still a somewhat high absolute risk. Personally, I'd get vaccinated. The risk even for young people is still there, and it's not that low. The source for these numbers is the following paper, specifically figure 2a: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2918-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2918-0

LandR 6y ago
> I'm not including the chance for severe side effects, hospitalization here (I don't know a good data source for those that is age-specific). From the Scottish Government figures.The hospitalization to confirmed cases breaks down like this for age: Age Cases Hospitilizations 0-4 1417 77 (5.4%) 5-14 3933 44 (1.1%) 15-19 7766 46 (0.5%) 20-24 9035 79 (0.8%) 25-44 28690 867 (3.0%) Everyone should get the vaccine.
- totony 6y ago
  That's confirmed cases so take these figures with a grain of salt. E.g. those are (probably) upper bounds EDIT: Here are the stats for the seasonal flu: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/past-seasons.html https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/past-seasons.html tldr: 1-2% hospitalization average

stunt 6y ago

Even a doctor can't answer that without having access to your medical documents. So get advise from your doctor. Perhaps it depends on your "health issues". And, don't look for an answer from the internet anytime soon. I assume it depends on your condition. If you are lucky, they have tested it on people with similar conditions and there is data for it. Otherwise, they may still be able to measure the risk. If your doctor suggests that there is a risk because of your condition, then you have to calculate the risk of not taking it as well. How much risk is there for you with the vaccine? How long can you keep yourself safe from COVID19. That depends on your interactions with other people, your job, and people around you etc.

thinkingemote 6y ago

if you're a young person with no health issues you probably won't be on the list for getting the vaccine first (it's at risk groups and healthcare workers first) Also importantly and slightly paradoxically, if you are a young person who would eagerly volunteer to get a vaccine, it's likely that you are diligently compliant with all the other necessary rules like hand washing, masks, social distancing, and so the need for a vaccine would be even lower! Identifying those who would most benefit is hard. Those who would most benefit is not the same group as those who would jump at the chance of a vaccine.

nojito 6y ago

Of course. There are loads of young people with the weirdest post covid complications. https://www.cbsnews.com/video/covid-long-haulers-60-minutes-2020-11-22/ https://www.cbsnews.com/video/covid-long-haulers-60-minutes-...

mmcnl 6y ago

Yes, if you don't the virus you can't infect someone else. Vaccines are the quickest way to herd immunity, which is the safest layer of protection against the virus.

OneGuy123 6y ago

No. You cannot seriously belive such a rushed vaccine has been tested properly. If you're young you will get natural immunity from it sooner or later. No young person had any issues. More young people will be hurt by the vaccine than COVID.

LandR 6y ago
> No young person had any issues. This isn't true. In my country we've had 25-35 deaths in people under 45 from Covid-19. So the death rate is very very small, but its not zero. Including deaths of people under 25. These people may have had existing co-morbidities of course, but not all of them might have known they had those co-morbidities. A lot of hospitalizations of people under 45 too.