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A Lesson in Vaccine Hesitancy From My Half-Vaxxed Daughter
Medpage Today ^ | September 10, 2021 | Gabrielle Bauer, MSc

Posted on 09/13/2021 3:16:03 PM PDT by nickcarraway

— She embodies the cultural tensions surrounding the COVID-19 shots

When the AstraZeneca vaccine became available to me in Canada in March, I got the jab with no hesitation. The risks seemed negligible and the benefits substantial.

My 25-year-old daughter, Tara, has undertaken a very different "jab journey." For several months she simply refused to get vaccinated. I asked her if she was afraid of side effects. No. "Is it long-term safety you're worried about?" No. "Do you believe those stories about fertility?" No.

I decided not to make an issue of it, having learned that pressuring this child has an efficacy of exactly zero. I also trusted Tara's ability to think for herself. Back when she was 9, she reminded me that "correlation does not imply causation" when I suggested that growing up with smokers increased the risk of taking up the habit. This was not a scientifically illiterate kid.

I would leave her alone, then. No hints, no passive-aggressive comments, nothing. I would let her make her own decision in her own time. And I certainly wouldn't judge her.

Finally, on an afternoon in mid-July, Tara sent a text message informing me that she had got her first Moderna shot that morning. I texted back: "How are you feeling? Any symptoms?"

She responded right away: "My only symptom is regret."

"I'm sorry," I said, without asking for an explanation. In truth, I already knew the answer.

Bad Timing

The pandemic came at an especially bad time for Tara: she was just finishing university, about to enter the world of work, when the March 2020 lockdown flattened her prospects. She was also coming into her own as a singer-songwriter. When I attended her last live performance, in a poky bar in Toronto's Kensington Market district, her alt-pop songs crackled with spirit and her voice rang with a newfound confidence.

And then it all ended for her. Her passion, writing and performing music, became expendable. She could accept the loss for 2 weeks, 2 months, even 6 months. But a year later, with live music still under lock and key, she began to question what it was all about. At what point did it stop making sense to cancel life's greatest joys? At what point would society take an honest look at the costs and benefits of lockdown-style policies? At what point would policymakers broaden their lens beyond COVID-19 metrics?

It wasn't just the policies that troubled her, but the culture that was forming around the pandemic: the finger-wagging, the moralizing, the shaming. When she dared express her concerns online, a keyboard warrior would swoop in to call her a granny killer or tell her to go lick a bench with the virus on it.

Truth be told, I shared many of Tara's concerns. While I never doubted the threat posed by COVID-19 or the need to mitigate it, nothing about the political and cultural response seemed balanced to me. The insistence that we all freeze-frame our lives, regardless of our individual circumstances, struck me as insensitive and unjust. I took issue with the extra burden imposed on the young, who had the least to fear from the virus and the most to lose from locking down. And the top-down, mandate-heavy approach gave me a chill. I stood with Mattias Desmet, PhD, a clinical psychology professor at the University of Ghent in Belgium, who described COVID-19 as "a profound social and even cultural crisis" and worried about the "tipping point in the process of totalitarianization."

This feeling only intensified, for both Tara and me, as the weeks turned into months and civilization remained on its knees. We could not, in good conscience, cheer the new social order we saw emerging, with its disciplinarian contours and blinkered focus on risk avoidance. We could not get excited about a world that summarily brushed aside the parts of life we found most nourishing, such as music and art and adventure. And yes, personal freedom. Safety mattered to us, but safety without self-determination gave life a two-dimensional quality that didn't sit well with us.

So I knew exactly why Tara had put off taking the vaccine: as an act of protest. Refusing the vax was a way to express her opposition to this new world order. But Tara has a pragmatic side, and she quickly realized that remaining unvaccinated would constrain her ability to function in society. She also has a social conscience, and the guilt of "not doing her part" was beginning to weigh on her. So she went ahead and got the first shot -- and then then felt weak for betraying her political ideals. Hence the regret.

Reasons for Refusal

The past few months have seen policymakers devise ever-more creative ways to encourage, persuade, and finally strong-arm people into getting vaxxed. Researchers, for their part, have been picking refuseniks' brains to find out exactly what holds them back. A Canadian analysis of vaccine-related Tweets identified safety concerns as the leading deterrent, with mistrust in Big Pharma emerging as another common theme. Other surveys have exposed fear of side effects, preference for developing natural immunity, and difficult access as barriers.

These surveys fail to capture an important group: those who opt out as a form of social protest, as Tara initially did. Without exception, the vaccine holdouts I know take issue with the undebated imposition of lockdowns and the autocratic dimension of the post-pandemic world. Going jabless is a way to communicate their outrage. As one young friend put it to me: "I'm not refusing the vaccine because of a personal risk/benefit assessment. I'm opposing it because I think hospitalization is preferable to dystopia." But "fear of dystopia" doesn't appear as a response option in many surveys, so this motive flies under the radar.

Policymakers and public health leaders, take note: if you want more people vaccinated, you need to understand this fear and address it in good faith. For starters, make it clear that mandates are temporary, to be reviewed at regular intervals and lifted as soon as possible. Don't insist on zero risk. Counteract misinformation, but also alarmism. Show more respect for the arts. Assure us that post-pandemic life will offer more than safety. Look beyond case counts. Bring some mental health experts, historians, and economists to your advisory tables and conversations. COVID-19 isn't just a public health problem, after all, but a societal one. When crafting policies, prove to us that you're thinking long and thinking big. Give us hope -- lots of it. And above all, show some humility. When you screw up, say "I screwed up." If you do your part, maybe the refuseniks will do theirs. Just a thought.

It has now been 2 months since Tara got that Moderna injection. Some of her regret has subsided, but not quite all. She still hasn't decided when she will get the second shot. She remains suspended between the two camps, the reasonable vaccinated and the recalcitrant unvaccinated -- a microcosm of the COVID-19 wars splitting families, friends, and nations apart. It's where she feels most comfortable right now, and I'm not about to push her off the ledge.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: covid19; moderna; vaccine
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1 posted on 09/13/2021 3:16:03 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

one of those may be a dead end...


2 posted on 09/13/2021 3:18:50 PM PDT by teeman8r (Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world or something)
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To: nickcarraway
She responded right away: "My only symptom is regret."

Straight to pathos. That's all this is. Devoid of scientific facts, just feelings.

3 posted on 09/13/2021 3:19:53 PM PDT by rarestia (Repeal the 17th Amendment and ratify Article the First to give the power back to the people!)
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To: rarestia

Such as?


4 posted on 09/13/2021 3:20:46 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: teeman8r
one of those may be a dead end...

Or they both lead to the same destination. Seems COVID is going to go through the population regardless of what we do.

5 posted on 09/13/2021 3:20:56 PM PDT by CatOwner (Don't expect anyone, even conservatives, to have your back when the SHTF in 2021)
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To: rarestia

More fear mongering. It is endless.


6 posted on 09/13/2021 3:22:01 PM PDT by joma89 (Buy weapons and ammo, folks, and have the will to use them.)
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To: teeman8r
the reasonable vaccinated and the recalcitrant unvaccinated

No bias there.

7 posted on 09/13/2021 3:23:25 PM PDT by Not A Snowbird (I do not recognize Biden’s authority.)
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To: nickcarraway
a microcosm of the COVID-19 wars splitting families, friends, and nations apart.

From where I am sitting, it's people that have gotten the Poke, and/or are advocating people to get the Poke that are causing all the division. Everyone that I know that refuses to take it has a live and let live attitude. The Poke pushers have the attitude of "Your body, my choice". I have a "hill to die on" problem with that.

8 posted on 09/13/2021 3:23:59 PM PDT by Turbo Pig ('to close with and destroy the enemy")
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To: CatOwner

Seems COVID is going to go through the population regardless of what we do.

I think that’s about it. But governments don’t like to admit they’re powerless. They always feel they have to do *something*, even if ultimately it is useless or worse, injurious.

It’s a bit like the predicament with the UAPs or UFOs. If they’re real, governments don’t want to come out and say so because they’d have to admit there are forces out in the universe that they can’t do a thing about.


9 posted on 09/13/2021 3:26:48 PM PDT by Flick Lives (We may or may not have reached herd immunity, but we've definitely achieved herd stupidity.)
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To: rarestia

I can’t figure out the regret. I don’t think mom explained it very clearly.

Does she regret having waited so long to get the shot?

Does she regret having gotten the shot?


10 posted on 09/13/2021 3:40:38 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom ("If I’m going to get my political views from those who chase balls, I’ll ask my dog.")
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

She caved in to the vaxxer nazis, she should feel ashamed. She allowed social pressure to override her principles.


11 posted on 09/13/2021 3:44:36 PM PDT by jimwatx
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To: ProtectOurFreedom; rarestia

I think she regrets getting the shot, specifically, she regrets “giving in,” to the public pressure.


12 posted on 09/13/2021 3:45:04 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

MSc, huh?

Well, say no more!

SNORT.


13 posted on 09/13/2021 3:46:02 PM PDT by mewzilla (Those aren't masks. They're muzzles. )
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To: nickcarraway

Oh boo hoo

Your kid is gonna have a crapload of future health issues That miraculously will never be circled back to the vaccine…


14 posted on 09/13/2021 3:53:49 PM PDT by Maskot (Put every dem/lib in prison........like yesterday!!! )
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To: nickcarraway

“Bring some mental health experts, historians, and economists to your advisory tables and conversations.”

After 8 years of Obama/Clinton/Pelosi lies, 4 years of Russian collusion lies, Benghazi lies, 2 fake impeachments, & numerous other deceptions, I wouldn’t believe ANY experts the Democrats put forward.


15 posted on 09/13/2021 4:03:09 PM PDT by Mister Da (The mark of a wise man is not what he knows, but what he knows he doesn't know!)
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To: Maskot
That miraculously will never be circled back to the vaccine…

Yeppers.

Once they rub out that nasty "control group", none will be the wiser...

16 posted on 09/13/2021 4:04:40 PM PDT by kiryandil (China Joe and Paycheck Hunter - the Chink in America's defenses)
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To: nickcarraway

Oh boo hoo

Weak willed woman all a Twitter because her daughter has regrets and can’t get a gig

Pretty pathetic


17 posted on 09/13/2021 4:10:52 PM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
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To: CatOwner

👍
That is right. No matter what you choose, Covid and the policies that surround it are intended to murder most of the population.

Maybe the plebs will start to get it soon enough but I doubt it.


18 posted on 09/13/2021 4:12:49 PM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal (Jesus + Something = Nothing ; Jesus + Nothing = Everything )
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To: Turbo Pig
Over the last few months I've noticed a subtle change in the pressure I get from people who have been vaccinated and can't understand why I'm not.

Before the summer began, these people seemed to be acting out of a sense of duty, interest in my personal health, or a fixation on "making everyone safe."

Now, I get a sense that a lot of these people realize that they've been conned by the government, the media, and their social media networks into getting a vaccine. And instead of coming out and admitting that they were wrong, they are doubling down on stupid and pushing everyone to get vaccinated just because it bothers the hell out of them that many people were NOT conned like they were. They don't mind being gullible dupes as long as 100% of the people in their circle of family and friends are in the same boat, but it actually bothers them to the point of outrage that there are other people didn't buy into the vaccine nonsense in the first place.

19 posted on 09/13/2021 4:42:15 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("All lies and jest, ‘til a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.")
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To: nickcarraway

I’m gonna go out a limb and guess these propagandized Canadians still vote Liberal Party.


20 posted on 09/13/2021 4:43:59 PM PDT by PGR88
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