More Americans are saying they’re ‘vaxxed and done’ • Hacker News Board

Re: More Americans are saying they’re ‘vaxxed and done’

#381

Post by scelerat » Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 7:48 PM UTC

Most vaccination opposition I've encountered in my personal life fits squarely in the venn overlap of personal fiat and political posturing. It's now fashionable to be anti-vax, whether because it demonstrates your disdain for the government or a particular political party. More than once I've had family members insist that vaccination, or mask-wearing, or any kind of caution, was merely a "personal choice" before themselves getting sick and infecting someone else who became gravely ill because of it.

Any talk of our cultural schism over the remedial responses to the epidemic which does not include discussion of political leadership and propaganda is itself seriously flawed and misleading. Nobody gave a crap about flu vaccines. We all know why this is different.

Re: More Americans are saying they’re ‘vaxxed and done’

#382

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 7:48 PM UTC

bumby wrote: post #272

I found this discussion between 3 MDs to be one of the more enlightened ones on the subject: https://peterattiamd.com/covid-19-current-state-omicron/ One of the big takeaways for me, personally, was that the push for boosters may be, in part, due to measuring the wrong thing, namely circulating antibodies as a measure of resistance to infection. Even when antibody levels dropped weeks/months later, it seems people st…

[deleted]

Re: More Americans are saying they’re ‘vaxxed and done’

#383

Post by q1w2 » Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 7:48 PM UTC

titzer wrote: post #113

I've gone through cycles with this. Mostly I am done arguing. I hate arguing about this. It's just more of the culture war shit that so many different media sources love pushing to keep people amped up. I double vaxxed and boosted. Stopped wearing a mask for the most part, but with Omicron I started wearing a mask again because I just don't want this stupid virus. I'm healthy and would probably not have a symptomatic…

I'm just happy to have a good excuse to wear a mask on an airplane. I always used to get sick after flights.

Re: More Americans are saying they’re ‘vaxxed and done’

#384

Post by HideousKojima » Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 7:48 PM UTC

recursive wrote: post #219

snowwrestler wrote: post #133

I feel like COVID has become like a marshmallow test for adults, where those who can manage their emotions and make rational decisions can set themselves up for greater long-term rewards. It looked for a while there like this could be a thing that gets “done”—that we would get a good vaccine into enough people, then incidence would decline so far it just goes away. That didn’t happen. We’re stuck with it for a forese…

I think the marshmallow test is pretty flawed itself. But maybe the marshmallow test is actually a good analogy. I suspect many of the test "failures" were caused because the test subject (kid) didn't trust the authority figure (test administrator). When you can see a marshmallow with your own eyes, it's more believable. I think it's quite reasonable to factor in some probability that an untrusted stranger would "alt…

The fact that college campuses (which have ~100% vaccination rates as well as young student bodies that are far less likely to face severe symptoms from COVID) are reinstituting lockdowns makes it abundantly clear that the marshmallows are never, ever coming.

Re: More Americans are saying they’re ‘vaxxed and done’

#385

Post by PragmaticPulp » Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 7:48 PM UTC

quocanh wrote: post #359

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We all know that most people get COVID and then get over it, but using a few neutral anecdotes to deny the other issues is like trying to invalidate global warming because the weather isn’t hot where you live. It’s not about comparing all of our anecdotes.

If you're willing to dismiss an anecdote then you should also dismiss the first anecdote in this thread. If you're willing to listen to an anecdote, then you should also listen to the second anecdote in this thread. This is about more than denying issues. It's about trying to get the whole picture. Ignoring any anecdotes you don't agree with doesn't help you get the whole picture.

> If you're willing to dismiss an anecdote then you should also dismiss the first anecdote in this thread. If you're willing to listen to an anecdote, then you should also listen to the second anecdote in this thread.

I think you misunderstood. The point was that it’s not about picking anecdotes that support your conclusion.

You have to look at broader data collection and studies, not just whatever small bits of anecdata are conveniently nearby.

Re: More Americans are saying they’re ‘vaxxed and done’

#386

Post by bb88 » Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 7:48 PM UTC

wonderwonder wrote: post #352

bb88 wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

* People can be overweight for decades without dying. * People can be over 65 for decades without dying. * People can be cancer survivors for decades without dying. * People can have type-1, type-II diabetes for decades without dying. * People can have heart valve issues for decades without dying. * People can have COPD for decades without dying. Let's quit blaming those people who are in the high risk category dying…

Saying that someone has a comorbidity is not a judgement. Its simply a fact. The virus is here, we know it affects people with certain conditions. If we can reduce or remove that condition then it is on us to do so. I am probably 30 pounds overweight, 20 of which I put on over the last year+ with covid. I am now working out and trying to drop those 30 pounds because in the context of the virus it just makes sense to…

It's no different than saying "It's your fault for dying by being fat during a pandemic -- so we don't need vaccines."

Re: More Americans are saying they’re ‘vaxxed and done’

#387

Post by typon » Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 7:49 PM UTC

jdminhbg wrote: post #351

snowwrestler wrote: post #133

I feel like COVID has become like a marshmallow test for adults, where those who can manage their emotions and make rational decisions can set themselves up for greater long-term rewards. It looked for a while there like this could be a thing that gets “done”—that we would get a good vaccine into enough people, then incidence would decline so far it just goes away. That didn’t happen. We’re stuck with it for a forese…

> ... set themselves up for greater long-term rewards Such as?

Having a job, presumably

Re: More Americans are saying they’re ‘vaxxed and done’

#388

Post by AniseAbyss » Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 7:49 PM UTC

yellowapple wrote: post #125

jmole wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly - Delta had a reputation for being both prolific and extremely virulent. Long COVID, loss of smell & taste, heart and lung problems, etc. A terrible illness. Omicron seems to carry far fewer of those risks from what data we have, especially if you are vaccinated.

My hope is that we're approaching a similar point the Spanish Flu did after this amount of time: Spanish Flu eventually lost its lethality and became symptomatically indistinguishable from your run of the mill flu, and hopefully COVID will eventually do the same and be symptomatically indistinguishable from your run of the mill cold. Obviously we ain't there quite yet, but with Omicron being both wider-spreading and…

Iirc the Spanish flue lasted 5 years so we still have some time to go.

Re: More Americans are saying they’re ‘vaxxed and done’

#389

Post by StillBored » Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 7:49 PM UTC

Vaxxed and I caught Cov19 a couple weeks ago (likely omicron). Same with the wife. I've had allergies that were worse. It was a 3 day event with a very mild fever and a bit of a cough the last day. It was extremely mild, and if I hadn't decided to take a couple days off to catch up on my reading after getting tested, I would have probably just eaten a couple advil and continued on as though nothing happened. So now I'm considering skipping any future boosters unless they specifically target a new more dangerous strain.

That said, I'm also still wearing a mask, although i'm having a hard time with the whole concept now too since i should be able to keep my immunity going simply by keeping myself exposed. I was a pretty strong advocate of mask wearing even when the CDC initially told people they could take it off, instead deciding to wait until more people were vaccinated (which never happened in TX). But now, I suspect I might be doing myself a disservice by not exposing myself to all the variants and things floating around.

Re: More Americans are saying they’re ‘vaxxed and done’

#390

Post by PragmaticPulp » Mon, Jan 10, 2022, 7:49 PM UTC

munificent wrote: post #358

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We all know that most people get COVID and then get over it, but using a few neutral anecdotes to deny the other issues is like trying to invalidate global warming because the weather isn’t hot where you live. It’s not about comparing all of our anecdotes.

As they say, the plural of anecdote is data. Many many many people are getting omicron and having relatively mild infections. It is not the same variant. That doesn't mean it's 100% safe, obviously, but it certainly appears to be safe er .

> As they say, the plural of anecdote is data.

Nobody says that if they know what they’re talking about.

The phrase is actually “The plural of anecdote is not evidence”. You can Google it if you don’t believe me.

You can’t collect a couple of anecdote and pretend it’s data.