8 ms·

If you don’t mind, why not get vaccinated? Like, what is the downside? I know this is a dangerous topic, especially on the internet with strangers, so feel fre

If you don’t mind, why not get vaccinated? Like, what is the downside? I know this is a dangerous topic, especially on the internet with strangers, so feel free to just not respond - that would be understandable. But I am curious to hear your thought process.

luke_value 5y ago
He has natural immunity. There are literally only downside risks from taking the shot. Who gets vaccinated for a disease they already had? No one gets measles and THEN gets vaccinated.
- jeremyjh 5y ago
  - axiosgunnar 5y ago
    What does any of this have to do with any kind of political spectrum? It is laughable to try to turn everything into left-right politics. Is eating pineapple pizza leftwing or rightwing extremism?
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - curmudgeon22 5y ago
    There are risks from the vaccines, even if they are rare. Why expose yourself if you're protected already? Myocarditis being the main one: - Postmarketing data demonstrate increased risks of myocarditis and pericarditis, particularly within 7 days following the second dose. [1] - The true incidence of myopericarditis is markedly higher than the incidence reported to US advisory committees. (preprint) [2] [1] https://www.fda.gov/media/151707/download https://www.fda.gov/media/151707/download [2] https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.21.21268209v1.full.pdf https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.21.21268209v...
    - lovich 5y ago
      > There are risks from the vaccines, even if they are rare Is pretty semantically different from > There are literally only downside risks from taking the shot. Which I think was the poster’s point about right wing talking points coming from a brand new account
- ancientsofmumu 5y ago
  > Who gets vaccinated for a disease they already had? Chickenpox (a form of herpes) lies dormant in the system for decades causes Shingles. Vaccinations are recommended at 50+ for people who have had the former to prevent the latter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenpox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenpox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shingles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shingles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoster_vaccine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoster_vaccine
  - luke_value 5y ago
    This is a non sequitur. This is to prevent reactivation of a dormant infection. With SARS-Cov2 we're talking about reinfection.
- buu700 5y ago
  He just said he tested positive (again). That means he can still spread the virus to other people; it's entirely possible that his getting the shot would have spared his wife her current symptoms. Elevated risk of infection, even if asymptomatic, is also elevated risk of having to unexpectedly quarantine in the future. A vaccine would have lowered the odds of that, and it will still lower the odds of it happening again in the future. On the other hand, the risks and downsides of getting vaccinated are negligible. This is like asking why it's worth driving sober when you already have seatbelts (masks) and airbags (natural immunity).
  - PKop 5y ago
    This is a very weak, modern, hyper-fearful mentality that is not consistent with reality. You're wishing you lived in a utopia, but you don't. You live in the real world. The vaccine cannot prevent infection from the current strains. Everyone is at risk of getting COVID and most likely will get it. You can't hide from this disease, but it's ok because the virus has weakened as it's become more infectious, as coronaviruses tend to do. >the risks and downsides of getting vaccinated are negligible You can't know what the long-term effects of this new type of vaccine are. Especially given people have to take it over and over again for to have any effectiveness, so negative effects could possibly accumulate. But it won't prevent catching COVID anyways. Like 5 of my friends and family recently got COVID over Christmas that were all vaccinated. The stats on case numbers bear this out: vaccinated are catching the Omicron strain. The vaccines can't stop this. Natural immunity works many times better than these vaccines and providing protection against infection anyways. This is how it will go, no matter how many boosters you take.
    - buu700 5y ago
      What are you talking about? No one suggested that the vaccine would prevent infection 100% reliably, and I'm not sure why you think we have a better understanding of the long-term effects of covid than mRNA vaccines (which aren't the only type of vaccine available in the first place).
      - PKop 5y ago
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
holbrad 5y ago
I'm in a pretty similar boat, young guy, had COVID didn't even notice. But got a positive test because the rest of the family was sick. There doesn't seem to be a solid reason to take the vaccine, for me specifically. Could easily make me sick for a day(s), with a very small chance of even worse side effects. Some of it I'm sure is a personality trait, I just generally need a good reason to do things. If vaccines passports or other such measures get introduced (UK) I'll get it reluctantly, because that's a bastardized reason & a benefit.
PKop 5y ago
What are the long term effects of multiple rounds of boosters? You have no idea. The mechanism by which mRNA vaccines work is different than standard vaccines. What are the unintended consequences? You have no idea. What is the risk if of COVID, especially the weakened Omicron strain? The CDC Director states that 75% of COVID deaths occurred in people with 4 comorbidities [0]. For someone under 50 that is fit and isn't overweight, COVID is statistically nothing to worry about. And this person already got sick so has natural immunity. What is the sense in assuming the prudent course of action is injecting a new pharmacological substance in your body instead of just allowing your own immune system to protect you naturally? Most drugs go through multiple rounds, over many years, of FDA testing and often side effects are discovered. What is gained by taking it? Almost nothing. What is risked? You don't know. I think the smart money will be on the side of the cohort that avoided this mind-virus of being gaslit into taking some pharma drug instead of just facing the minimal threat head on. [0] https://twitter.com/Lukewearechange/status/1480595156483072001 https://twitter.com/Lukewearechange/status/14805951564830720...
- hhmc 5y ago
  It's interesting that you're concerned about the long term _effects_ of boosters, but COVID is nothing to worry about since you're only concerned with _deaths_. Seems disengenous.
  - PKop 5y ago
    The vaccines don't prevent people from getting covid, so why accumulate risks? In any case, common sense says the natural coronavirus would be handled by your body in predictable ways versus the new mRNA engineered substance. Are you telling me since you got the vaccines, you actually think you're going to avoid getting COVID? If this is not what you think, then what the hell are you talking about?
    - snowwrestler 5y ago
      The body handles the mRNA vaccine more predictably than the naturally occurring viable coronavirus. This is not a matter of common sense; it’s possible to test in vitro and in field trials (and there have been a lot of both). The reason is in part because there is less variability from dose to dose of an mRNA vaccine than there is among extant variants of viable SARS-COV-2 coronavirus. That makes it easier to predict what will happen. And it is in part because mRNA vaccines are built up from the existing biochemistry of the body. That is, mRNA vaccines are not a new thing we created, they are a distillation of a natural system that we discovered and studied.
claytongulick 5y ago
It is a dangerous topic (which is weird, right?) And I post on HN under my real name. But it's a genuine question, and I'm going to try to give you a complete response, because I think open discussion on this is important, even though I know that it's an unpopular opinion. It comes down to three things: 1) the studies I've reviewed, which overwhelmingly support the strength of natural immunity 2) the adverse reactions that I've seen personally (I personally know more people that have had more severe reactions from the vaccine than I know who have had severe outcome from covid - purely anecdotal, but hard for me to ignore), and from VAERS (truly frightening), and 3) the very strange authoritarian approach the government and media have taken with this. I don't know of any vaccine or drug trial that would have survived the number of adverse effect that have been reported without being pulled. We keep seeing strange things like the CEO of Reuters being on the board of Pfizer as [1] mentions. But it's immediately flagged on HN. You can't even discuss it. Medical opinions from highly qualified doctors and health experts being silenced, accounts being canceled and removed from FB, Google, etc... frankly, it has me creeped out. I've never seen anything like it. The "othering" of people who make informed choice about vaccination and decide against it is extraordinary. It's a global phenomenon. You can see it in some of the responses to my comment here on HN, even. Take a look at the downvotes for my comment - just for saying that my natural immunity seems to be robust. There don't seem to be many people willing to engage in an open and honest dialog about this, other opinions are silenced by any means available. Maybe it's because I'm older and cranky, maybe it's because of a deep distrust of centralized authority, but the more someone pushes me to do something, anything really, the more I tend to resist. When I couple that with the risk/reward evaluation and the advice of my doctor, all things things come together to make me decide not to do it. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29879165 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29879165
- MengerSponge 5y ago
  Anyone can report anything to VAERS. It's exactly as scary as the boogeyman. A severe outcome from COVID is hospitalization. You seriously know multiple people who were hospitalized as a result of a vaccine? (X) Doubt. The "othering" is because people who opted out of getting a vaccine have endangered the rest of us. It appears you've continued to participate in society, as evidenced by your reinfection. People generally shouldn't be surprised that they face social sanction when they act in an antisocial way! If you drive recklessly, you go to jail. If you don't get certain vaccines, you don't get to enroll in school. You can't smoke indoors, or even close to doors, in most parts of many countries. The fact that your "informed choice" is driven more by gut feelings, selection bias, and an innate opposition to any and all authority further underscores the point.

luke_value 5y ago

He has natural immunity. There are literally only downside risks from taking the shot. Who gets vaccinated for a disease they already had? No one gets measles and THEN gets vaccinated.

jeremyjh 5y ago
- axiosgunnar 5y ago
  What does any of this have to do with any kind of political spectrum? It is laughable to try to turn everything into left-right politics. Is eating pineapple pizza leftwing or rightwing extremism?
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- curmudgeon22 5y ago
  There are risks from the vaccines, even if they are rare. Why expose yourself if you're protected already? Myocarditis being the main one: - Postmarketing data demonstrate increased risks of myocarditis and pericarditis, particularly within 7 days following the second dose. [1] - The true incidence of myopericarditis is markedly higher than the incidence reported to US advisory committees. (preprint) [2] [1] https://www.fda.gov/media/151707/download https://www.fda.gov/media/151707/download [2] https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.21.21268209v1.full.pdf https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.21.21268209v...
  - lovich 5y ago
    > There are risks from the vaccines, even if they are rare Is pretty semantically different from > There are literally only downside risks from taking the shot. Which I think was the poster’s point about right wing talking points coming from a brand new account
ancientsofmumu 5y ago
> Who gets vaccinated for a disease they already had? Chickenpox (a form of herpes) lies dormant in the system for decades causes Shingles. Vaccinations are recommended at 50+ for people who have had the former to prevent the latter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenpox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenpox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shingles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shingles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoster_vaccine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoster_vaccine
- luke_value 5y ago
  This is a non sequitur. This is to prevent reactivation of a dormant infection. With SARS-Cov2 we're talking about reinfection.
buu700 5y ago
He just said he tested positive (again). That means he can still spread the virus to other people; it's entirely possible that his getting the shot would have spared his wife her current symptoms. Elevated risk of infection, even if asymptomatic, is also elevated risk of having to unexpectedly quarantine in the future. A vaccine would have lowered the odds of that, and it will still lower the odds of it happening again in the future. On the other hand, the risks and downsides of getting vaccinated are negligible. This is like asking why it's worth driving sober when you already have seatbelts (masks) and airbags (natural immunity).
- PKop 5y ago
  This is a very weak, modern, hyper-fearful mentality that is not consistent with reality. You're wishing you lived in a utopia, but you don't. You live in the real world. The vaccine cannot prevent infection from the current strains. Everyone is at risk of getting COVID and most likely will get it. You can't hide from this disease, but it's ok because the virus has weakened as it's become more infectious, as coronaviruses tend to do. >the risks and downsides of getting vaccinated are negligible You can't know what the long-term effects of this new type of vaccine are. Especially given people have to take it over and over again for to have any effectiveness, so negative effects could possibly accumulate. But it won't prevent catching COVID anyways. Like 5 of my friends and family recently got COVID over Christmas that were all vaccinated. The stats on case numbers bear this out: vaccinated are catching the Omicron strain. The vaccines can't stop this. Natural immunity works many times better than these vaccines and providing protection against infection anyways. This is how it will go, no matter how many boosters you take.
  - buu700 5y ago
    What are you talking about? No one suggested that the vaccine would prevent infection 100% reliably, and I'm not sure why you think we have a better understanding of the long-term effects of covid than mRNA vaccines (which aren't the only type of vaccine available in the first place).
    - PKop 5y ago
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

holbrad 5y ago

I'm in a pretty similar boat, young guy, had COVID didn't even notice. But got a positive test because the rest of the family was sick. There doesn't seem to be a solid reason to take the vaccine, for me specifically. Could easily make me sick for a day(s), with a very small chance of even worse side effects. Some of it I'm sure is a personality trait, I just generally need a good reason to do things. If vaccines passports or other such measures get introduced (UK) I'll get it reluctantly, because that's a bastardized reason & a benefit.

PKop 5y ago

What are the long term effects of multiple rounds of boosters? You have no idea. The mechanism by which mRNA vaccines work is different than standard vaccines. What are the unintended consequences? You have no idea. What is the risk if of COVID, especially the weakened Omicron strain? The CDC Director states that 75% of COVID deaths occurred in people with 4 comorbidities [0]. For someone under 50 that is fit and isn't overweight, COVID is statistically nothing to worry about. And this person already got sick so has natural immunity. What is the sense in assuming the prudent course of action is injecting a new pharmacological substance in your body instead of just allowing your own immune system to protect you naturally? Most drugs go through multiple rounds, over many years, of FDA testing and often side effects are discovered. What is gained by taking it? Almost nothing. What is risked? You don't know. I think the smart money will be on the side of the cohort that avoided this mind-virus of being gaslit into taking some pharma drug instead of just facing the minimal threat head on. [0] https://twitter.com/Lukewearechange/status/1480595156483072001 https://twitter.com/Lukewearechange/status/14805951564830720...

hhmc 5y ago
It's interesting that you're concerned about the long term _effects_ of boosters, but COVID is nothing to worry about since you're only concerned with _deaths_. Seems disengenous.
- PKop 5y ago
  The vaccines don't prevent people from getting covid, so why accumulate risks? In any case, common sense says the natural coronavirus would be handled by your body in predictable ways versus the new mRNA engineered substance. Are you telling me since you got the vaccines, you actually think you're going to avoid getting COVID? If this is not what you think, then what the hell are you talking about?
  - snowwrestler 5y ago
    The body handles the mRNA vaccine more predictably than the naturally occurring viable coronavirus. This is not a matter of common sense; it’s possible to test in vitro and in field trials (and there have been a lot of both). The reason is in part because there is less variability from dose to dose of an mRNA vaccine than there is among extant variants of viable SARS-COV-2 coronavirus. That makes it easier to predict what will happen. And it is in part because mRNA vaccines are built up from the existing biochemistry of the body. That is, mRNA vaccines are not a new thing we created, they are a distillation of a natural system that we discovered and studied.

claytongulick 5y ago

It is a dangerous topic (which is weird, right?) And I post on HN under my real name. But it's a genuine question, and I'm going to try to give you a complete response, because I think open discussion on this is important, even though I know that it's an unpopular opinion. It comes down to three things: 1) the studies I've reviewed, which overwhelmingly support the strength of natural immunity 2) the adverse reactions that I've seen personally (I personally know more people that have had more severe reactions from the vaccine than I know who have had severe outcome from covid - purely anecdotal, but hard for me to ignore), and from VAERS (truly frightening), and 3) the very strange authoritarian approach the government and media have taken with this. I don't know of any vaccine or drug trial that would have survived the number of adverse effect that have been reported without being pulled. We keep seeing strange things like the CEO of Reuters being on the board of Pfizer as [1] mentions. But it's immediately flagged on HN. You can't even discuss it. Medical opinions from highly qualified doctors and health experts being silenced, accounts being canceled and removed from FB, Google, etc... frankly, it has me creeped out. I've never seen anything like it. The "othering" of people who make informed choice about vaccination and decide against it is extraordinary. It's a global phenomenon. You can see it in some of the responses to my comment here on HN, even. Take a look at the downvotes for my comment - just for saying that my natural immunity seems to be robust. There don't seem to be many people willing to engage in an open and honest dialog about this, other opinions are silenced by any means available. Maybe it's because I'm older and cranky, maybe it's because of a deep distrust of centralized authority, but the more someone pushes me to do something, anything really, the more I tend to resist. When I couple that with the risk/reward evaluation and the advice of my doctor, all things things come together to make me decide not to do it. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29879165 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29879165

MengerSponge 5y ago
Anyone can report anything to VAERS. It's exactly as scary as the boogeyman. A severe outcome from COVID is hospitalization. You seriously know multiple people who were hospitalized as a result of a vaccine? (X) Doubt. The "othering" is because people who opted out of getting a vaccine have endangered the rest of us. It appears you've continued to participate in society, as evidenced by your reinfection. People generally shouldn't be surprised that they face social sanction when they act in an antisocial way! If you drive recklessly, you go to jail. If you don't get certain vaccines, you don't get to enroll in school. You can't smoke indoors, or even close to doors, in most parts of many countries. The fact that your "informed choice" is driven more by gut feelings, selection bias, and an innate opposition to any and all authority further underscores the point.