Anyone else starting to feel like a second class citizen if not getting the vaccine?
I haven't felt like a second class citizen YET but that is only b/c my state is sadly lagging way behind in vaccine distribution. At present, it is still only available to health-care & other essential workers, nursing homes, certain medical conditions, and people over age 65+.
But I know the time is coming that I will be deemed a second class citizen for not getting the vaccine. But thankfully, all of my family & close friends understand my choice and agree with it. I have also discussed it in great detail w/my doctor who is going to give me a medical exemption in the future (if I need one). But in spite of this, there will be people who will not understand and I am prepared to deal with them.
Today i started my new policy that when someone ask me this, I say "I don't discuss the vaccine". Wrote that in an email this morning.
My policy (at present) is that I have different responses re: the vaccine depending on who asks me, and this is similar to how I reply to any personal or medical question that I am asked. For example there is someone that I know pretty well in my apt building and when she asked, I just replied that, "I am not eligible yet b/c I am not 65" and she accepted my answer and I changed the topic.
But with many others, I tell them that I am not getting the vaccine and when they naturally want to know why, then I explain. This is how I explain it (for me) in case it is helpful to anyone else. I am diagnosed w/three different autoimmune diseases plus MCAS. The treatments that put me into remission were all immuno-suppressants. Versus vaccines are the polar opposite and are immuno-stimulatory. So it is very possible that the vaccine could literally end my remission (which for me means going back to using a motorized wheelchair 24/7 and having a caregiver). I am now completely independent and can do an hour walk, drive my car, take care of my apt, go to the grocery store, etc, with no limitations.
For friends & family who witnessed me go through the entire process (over the course of many years) of being healthy, then getting sick, then getting
extremely sick, then doing 3+ years of infusions, then going into remission... when they understand that the vaccine could end my remission, and that my doctor agrees with it, they all support me 100%.
They all know that it is not political for me, that I am not an anti-vaxxer, and that I 100% support their decision to get the vaccine (or their decision not to get the vaccine) and I appreciate their support of me not getting the vaccine.
I also have another explanation that I give (when appropriate). Basically, I explain that the vaccine clinical trials had subjects who were healthy and had normal immune systems. The trials did not have people like me who have multiple autoimmune diseases/abnormal immune system and MCAS w/a history of anaphylaxis.
So when experts say that the vaccines are "safe", this statement is probably true for the average healthy person in society. However, let's pretend that the vaccine was like getting a peanut antigen/toxin. If you had a person with a known peanut allergy (anaphylaxis level), then for THAT person, the vaccine would NOT be deemed safe. That person would be excluded from a clinical trial and would not get the vaccine.
To stay with that analogy, if you took 1,000 random people in society who do not have a peanut allergy, and you said that the vaccines are most likely safe for those 1,000 people, that would be a true statement. However, an individual's risk cannot be assessed entirely by the risk of "society at large". The vaccine risk for someone w/a history of severe autoimmunity & MCAS is NOT the same risk level as a healthy volunteer in a clinical trial. Just like eating peanut butter is not the same risk level to someone with known anaphylaxis level peanut allergy.
When I explain to people that I am like the person w/the peanut allergy being asked to risk my life and to end my remission, then my risk level is different. I am the Unicorn in this scenario. So far, I have not encountered a single person who did not understand this. But I am selective in who I share this with and for some people, I simply say, "I have not gotten the vaccine yet" if it is someone who I do not trust to have my personal info.
Apologies that this got so long-winded and I hope it is helpful for someone else!
One by one, everyone i know has gotten them, in fact, everyone in US as of today
That is interesting and in my state, I don't personally know anyone yet who has had the vaccine except for my best friend who is a healthcare worker (and she got both doses of Pfizer at work several months ago). I do have friends in other states though who have already been vaccinated. I also have some family members & friends who plan to decline the vaccine (each for different reasons and none for the same reason that I will be declining it).
So it might REALLY MATTER which vaccine one obtains, given pre-existing conditions, recommendations from one's own doctors, our ME recommendations etc.
This is absolutely true and for anyone w/a history of autoimmunity, you would want to avoid all adjuvants which have the sole purpose of being extra immuno-stimulatory. Each of the vaccines are not identical as they make them sound on the news.
Yes, it may matter for folks like us. i had reasoned if i do get it, moderna might get me sick becasue it has TRIS, j and j might be a problem because more people in vax group got tinnitus and dizziness compared to controls, and the more traditional ones have adjuntivants that probably i should avoid. That leaves pfizer. conernec over potassium chloride and the whole proplyene glycol fat part, but may be least of evils for me. I guess becasue i'm sick i've learned i have to make decisions so carefully- but others seem not to bothered by not getting any choice or say about anythign regarding their vaccine.
I think if someone has not experienced the level of long-term adverse reactions (to something considered to be "safe") that you and I have, than it is almost impossible for them to grasp this. I had anaphylaxis to a dye that could have killed me and I've been instructed to avoid certain dyes in food & meds, as well as contrast dyes, for the rest of my life (by my former allergist who was an MCAS specialist). I also had a neurotoxic reaction to Levaquin that permanently damaged my arm. It is now 11 years later and my arm will never be fully normal.
I have friends who are choosing not to get vaccinated and others who were in fact surfing the web day and night to find an appointment.
Likewise.
What is hard to see, though, are those who insist that their way is the right way for one and all, who do not recognize that others are going through their own process and making the best decisions they can for themselves, their families and the world.
I think some people are just not capable of understanding this.
Shaming -- which is coming at times from all camps in my experience, is not helping any of us be safer or healthier.
I agree that sadly vaccine shaming is going to be a big thing in the future.