This is for those of us common and garden variety humans who don’t claim to be anything but confused and fed up. The hot topic of, scream, conversation is Covid19 and whether or not you have been jabbed. Whatever your bent, it is divisive. To actually voice that you are not a fan of vaccination is to have people suddenly turn on you like scalded cats hissing science-speak. To say you have had your vaccination is to have people either look at you incredulously or pat you on the back and congratulate you. Public berating is rife on social media platforms. There is no middle ground. What Covid19 has done is divide people. It has caused families to break up, friends to unfriend and enclaves to form. And this is just the beginning. Divide and conqueror? Oh, sorry, let me not sound like a conspiracy theorist. That is not my aim. The problem here as I see it, is multi-layered. From the start, Covid19 has been mired in a smog of speculation. Where did it come from, bats? Pangolins, wet markets, China even? Man made or zoonotic, a bit of both, none of the above? Did some silly idiot drop a test tube and go “whoops” and has been feeling a bit guilty ever since? What about the 5G connection? Are aliens involved? There are still no answers. What we know for sure is that people are getting sick. But. . . some are sick, but not sick, some are sick-sick and recover and some tragically die. Co-morbidities increase risk, but then a spanner is thrown in the works as a young, fit and healthy person dies. The apparent randomness of the virus has us all feeling as if we are playing a game of Russian Roulette. You would think that this would encourage everyone to rush out and beg for the vaccine, but not all are doing this. Why? There are many reasons, but the most commonly offered are safety concerns due to rushed vaccines, that it would seem vaccines have not been sufficiently time tested, possible severe side effects and long term effects are at this point unknown. To clarify I offer this analogy. If some random person, who doesn’t look too much like a serial killer, offers you a sweet, do you take it, pop it into your mouth and say thank you? Humans are naturally cautious, it is called survival instinct. Some want to be sure that what they are being told to do is safe. They want to wait, watch and make decisions on their own terms. Many are feeling bludgeoned by the constant calls to vaccinate and guilted, not only by their families and friends, but by their governments as well. The latest headlines are telling us that 99% of people dying from Covid19 are those unvaccinated, yet vaccination hesitancy is causing concern world wide. So, call it rebellion, rebellion as a way to attempt to regain a modicum of control in this unfamiliar world, call it un-common sense, call it stupidity. Whatever the reasons, the bottom line is it is the real fear of the, as yet, known. This is a direct result of the way the pandemic has been handled. Just a year and eight months ago, the people of the world were thrust into the grip of a novel, meaning new, disease. Medical staff were literally treating patients through trial and error as no one really knew how the virus worked. Lockdowns have ruined and isolated people from their living and dying loved ones causing huge distress. The ‘new normal’ demanded sudden, atypical behaviourial changes and “Coronaspeak.” Daily slews of misinformation, fake news and conspiracy theories have engendered suspicion of anything calling itself truth. Is it such a surprise then that seeds of doubt have germinated in people’s minds. I wonder if there is anyone on the planet who is 100% sure that what they are doing or not doing is in fact correct. For those who have been vaccinated or plan to be, that is OK too. You have every right to make your choice. It is a personal decision that does not require any outside approval. The antithetical nature of the camps, however, will probably result in it becoming as taboo to question anyone about their vaccination status as it is to ask about their earnings. Things start to become even more murky when the people tasked with looking after our health start turning against each other. Now people who are supposedly the brightest of the bright, are making the career-killing decisions to make their opinions known. Another divisive event. If a doctor isn’t an epidemiologist is he or she not au fait with the workings of the virus? Is there a sector of doctors who are mentally ill as was alleged? (If so, can we have a list of names please.) Why is questioning all this met with such hostility? I did not write this because I wish to sway people’s opinions for or against the vaccine. I am pontificating on why this subject is such a minefield of controversy, vitriol and consequentially, angst.
