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Friday 11 September 2020

Day 179 of self-isolation - Americans won't vaccinate

Americans won't vaccinate

American trust in their government has become so weak, that only 21% of them will get a vaccine as soon as it becomes available.

This is what happens when you're unlucky enough to have a president like Trump.

The Woodward book reveals that he knew how awful the pandemic was going to be. Five times as deadly as influenza, and much more infectious; spreading through the air you breathe. Yet he deliberately downplayed it, with his eye on the coming election. "It's like flu", he said "and one day it will just go away", he said. "With the warm weather," he said. "Inject disinfectant," he said. "What have you got to lose?" he said.

200,000 death, and many more permanently scarred. That's what America had to lose.

Shouting "FIRE" in a crowded theater, is very irresponsible - unless the theater really is on fire, in which case it would be grossly irresponsible to pretend that there is no fire, everything is under control, the fire will be out in a few minutes and the smoke and flames that you're seeing are just a hoax.

He is obviously keen now, to announce a vaccine as soon as possible, and before November 3rd, election day. Knowing that he has that as his objective, why would anyone take his word for it that it has been tested adequately? Or take the word of the federal agencies that he has under his thumb.

In the UK, we are very lucky to have a non-political NHS. I have trust that when the NHS says it's safe, then it will be. And I'll be one of the ones who will get vaccinated as soon as possible, because it isn't only the possibility of dying from this virus - 20% of people who get infected, suffer from "long Covid", where you are ill for many months, and perhaps you are permanently scarred by it.




4 comments:

  1. I am not pro Trump nor am I anti vaccine. I am reluctant to being in the first wave to take a new medication if I am currently healthy. If I was sick and other previously known options proved ineffective, I'd try anything, but this is not that situation. I will wait and see and hopefully enough info exists when it becomes available to make those, even analytic/scientific minded folks such as myself, comfortable with the vaccine.

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  2. That makes sense, except that
    1) you won't be the first, you'll be the 50,001st, because the vaccine has been tried on 50,000 people before it's released
    2) if you take the vaccine AFTER you catch Covid, that's too late. The whole point of a vaccine, is that we take it before we get sick.

    But I can understand your hesitancy to be the 50,001st to take it.

    Question - at what point will you think it's safe?

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    Replies
    1. As someone in technology, we plan, we test and then go to production which is the real test and where you find exceptions that weren't known or accounted for, and need to adjust. If I apply that to me, did they test on someone that is taking the same meds as me, with the same condition I have? Will it possibly make my condition worse? What will happen to me (others) in 5, 10 or 15 years down the road?

      My mom passed a few years ago from an uncommon form of blood cancer. She was part of a trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering hospital in NYC. Not too long after she was active in the trial, things escalated from being at home to being in the ICU and a few days later she was gone. I recall the doctor telling my dad, that he was very sorry, but even failures provide important information. Did the drug/trial make things worse or would the same thing have occurred if she wasn't taking the trial medication - not really sure. What if the trial did accelerate her death but she wasn't part of the trial and this wasn't found until after?

      It is all "what if" but that's what we have to work for. As a very scientific/analytic person those are the questions I ask myself in my own mind.

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    2. That's true, and everything carries risk.

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