Until 2020, I have taken every recommended vaccine on the US schedule. Happily. I've asked for them. I will never take another vaccine again aside from a tetanus booster. My response is normal. It is proportionate and appropriately responsive to the reality we have learned about what public health and pharmaceutical companies will do.
Hear, hear! I got flu shots in college (because a math major missing class for two weeks would have been a dealbreaker, almost impossible to recover from) and I got caught up on childhood vaccines as an adult once I found out that I didn't get them as a child. Looking back, I feel so stupid for believing the medical industry long enough to do those things. Never again. I will never again trust the medical establishment to tell me what to inject into my body. I will make my own decisions after doing my own research, context-dependent. Like you, tetanus boosters are the only thing I'm willing to approve at the moment. Lying bastards.
I am more than well vaccinated. Basically, because I traveled so much and vaccinations are often recommended or mandatory for immigration purposes. So, I probably do not have to fear Cholera as much as others might ;-)
What I learned over about the last decade is how little we actually know about health. For example, my family has a long long history of being poor that I can basically trace back into the 1500s. And with that comes a long genetically manifested health story. For example, I am short and I never grew a full set of teeth (I am missing three, they just never grew). My family also has a history of dying young. Both MS and ALS have occurred in my mom's and the prior generation. Heart issues have caused young heart attacks and most of my cousins and my brother had to have surgery before they turned 35 to remove an extra something or so (not sure of the medical terms here). Most of us have back problems and joint issues growing older and nearly everyone gets diabetes at some point. To put numbers to it, my father is the longest living male in my family. He turned 73 this year. Most did not make it past 60.
It is odd that our generation has subscribed so heavily to the wisdom of medical science. Yes, there were a few wins. When I could see the hospital (Groote Schuur Hospital in SA) where the first heart transplant occurred from my apartment window I felt a huge sense of progress and pride about how far humanity has come. The early vaccinations were indeed a life saver. My mother in law had polio has a child and there was a long term negative impact on her health and ability to do things. But nowadays, we know so many areas where the science was misused that we need to become way more critical (nutrition, autism topics... all have been falsified and lied about).
We all have to weigh risk factors and I agree there are a few that make me not get a booster.
When my work made covid vaccination mandatory I had a first panic attack in the parking lot right before my first shot. I did not want to take it (I never get flu shots either), but felt forced. And as the person who has three people relying on her income, I just could not afford any side effects. It was the worst feeling I ever had in my life.
Thanks for being so open about your thought process.
Amen. I feel like they aren’t even attempting to pretend at legitimacy anymore. This last “approved” booster - tested on a handful of mice and no human studies? Who are the people still lining up for these? Is anyone else struggling with forgiveness for people who were not only willing to poison their bodies with poorly tested and studied vaccines but their minds with unhinged toxic gender and race ideology and then demand you do the same? I’m finding charitably forgiving participation in these ideologies assuming ignorance on the part of those adherent to them harder and harder as time passes. I know it’s necessary if we have any prayer of correcting course, but wow is it difficult when that group of people keeps escalating the rhetoric. Biden’s speech last night was....something.
It's a very lonely place, coming to realize that the institutions of the government, the military, education, religion - none of it can be trusted. Some of us have become wiser, but much sadder with that realization.
I guess this hits at the heart of it doesn’t it? There will be no introspection or moment of accepting personal responsibility from this group that holds an outsized amount of institutional power. What does that mean for the next few years with a disintegration occurring so quickly? What you said in a previous post definitely resonated - I feel like starting to repair the damage that has been done over the last couple years will be a decades long project that will require a lot of the people who didn’t start this fight. I resent being dragged into that. And that would only even start if the ideologues were willing to “put down their weapons” and call a truce. It’s hard not to feel exhausted and deeply sad for my children.
Hear, hear! I got flu shots in college (because a math major missing class for two weeks would have been a dealbreaker, almost impossible to recover from) and I got caught up on childhood vaccines as an adult once I found out that I didn't get them as a child. Looking back, I feel so stupid for believing the medical industry long enough to do those things. Never again. I will never again trust the medical establishment to tell me what to inject into my body. I will make my own decisions after doing my own research, context-dependent. Like you, tetanus boosters are the only thing I'm willing to approve at the moment. Lying bastards.
I am more than well vaccinated. Basically, because I traveled so much and vaccinations are often recommended or mandatory for immigration purposes. So, I probably do not have to fear Cholera as much as others might ;-)
What I learned over about the last decade is how little we actually know about health. For example, my family has a long long history of being poor that I can basically trace back into the 1500s. And with that comes a long genetically manifested health story. For example, I am short and I never grew a full set of teeth (I am missing three, they just never grew). My family also has a history of dying young. Both MS and ALS have occurred in my mom's and the prior generation. Heart issues have caused young heart attacks and most of my cousins and my brother had to have surgery before they turned 35 to remove an extra something or so (not sure of the medical terms here). Most of us have back problems and joint issues growing older and nearly everyone gets diabetes at some point. To put numbers to it, my father is the longest living male in my family. He turned 73 this year. Most did not make it past 60.
It is odd that our generation has subscribed so heavily to the wisdom of medical science. Yes, there were a few wins. When I could see the hospital (Groote Schuur Hospital in SA) where the first heart transplant occurred from my apartment window I felt a huge sense of progress and pride about how far humanity has come. The early vaccinations were indeed a life saver. My mother in law had polio has a child and there was a long term negative impact on her health and ability to do things. But nowadays, we know so many areas where the science was misused that we need to become way more critical (nutrition, autism topics... all have been falsified and lied about).
We all have to weigh risk factors and I agree there are a few that make me not get a booster.
When my work made covid vaccination mandatory I had a first panic attack in the parking lot right before my first shot. I did not want to take it (I never get flu shots either), but felt forced. And as the person who has three people relying on her income, I just could not afford any side effects. It was the worst feeling I ever had in my life.
Thanks for being so open about your thought process.
Amen. I feel like they aren’t even attempting to pretend at legitimacy anymore. This last “approved” booster - tested on a handful of mice and no human studies? Who are the people still lining up for these? Is anyone else struggling with forgiveness for people who were not only willing to poison their bodies with poorly tested and studied vaccines but their minds with unhinged toxic gender and race ideology and then demand you do the same? I’m finding charitably forgiving participation in these ideologies assuming ignorance on the part of those adherent to them harder and harder as time passes. I know it’s necessary if we have any prayer of correcting course, but wow is it difficult when that group of people keeps escalating the rhetoric. Biden’s speech last night was....something.
I do not struggle with "forgiveness". I do not recognize any moral or spiritual obligation to "forgive."
I will consider forgiving people *only* when the following conditions are met:
1. They initiate the conversation without me prompting them
2. They sincerely apologize for what they did
3. They explain why they did what they did, why they recognize it's wrong
4. They convincingly demonstrate that they will not act this way again
5. They *ask* for my forgivness. Ask, not expect.
6. They indicate that they are asking for my grace, but that they are not entitled to it
It's a very lonely place, coming to realize that the institutions of the government, the military, education, religion - none of it can be trusted. Some of us have become wiser, but much sadder with that realization.
I guess this hits at the heart of it doesn’t it? There will be no introspection or moment of accepting personal responsibility from this group that holds an outsized amount of institutional power. What does that mean for the next few years with a disintegration occurring so quickly? What you said in a previous post definitely resonated - I feel like starting to repair the damage that has been done over the last couple years will be a decades long project that will require a lot of the people who didn’t start this fight. I resent being dragged into that. And that would only even start if the ideologues were willing to “put down their weapons” and call a truce. It’s hard not to feel exhausted and deeply sad for my children.