I am trying to feel out if anyone else has declined the Covid vaccine and feeling backlash or tension with other co-workers? I have never heard so much discussion regarding nurse receiving or declining a vaccine in the 12 years I've been a nurse. Not sure why it should even matter but, I am getting a lot of pressure about it. I do not see why I am "crazy " if I made the decision against receiving the vaccine. I also do not understand co-workers pushing the vaccine on me and others, or insisting we are out of our minds. This is coming from management level as well as staff nurses. I am just appalled at the treatment and many of us who have declined the vaccine have kept to ourselves. For me, personally, I made the choice not to get it and I was done at that. It's been a month into our hospital vaccines and people will not just shut up about it.
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
12 minutes ago, turtlesRcool said:
We are. Just last week, I was reading about some mutations that are appearing in NY. How those mutations persist and how susceptible they are to vaccines remains to be seen. At this point, people are describing the variants in terms related to the particular mutations, but if those mutations spread and have an impact on how sick the virus makes people or its ability to get around the immune system (either reinfect people or infect vaccinated people), we might start talking about them in terms of a new strain.
I'm so hopeful that we'll avoid that new strain possibility or that a new strain might be less virulent. Meanwhile, I think we're going to be dealing with this virus for awhile.
Specializes in Educator, COVID Paperwork Expert (self-taught).
1 hour ago, toomuchbaloney said:
Do you believe that the average vaccine refusal in this country is based in sound research and valid science? You know, the average Annie resident of the USA who doesn't really feel like the vaccines are safe or adequately tested...do those folks generally have good arguments against immunization, in your opinion?
Yes I do believe that, because I am one of those people! ?
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
13 minutes ago, love2banurse89 said:
Yes I do believe that, because I am one of those people! ?
I wouldn't say that you are average Annie when it comes to vaccination refusal. You have a college education in the sciences and have a proven ability to make evidence based decisions. Average Annie's don't have that.
Have you had to do much education with vaccine reluctant parents or patients? I have done a great deal with all kinds of people. In my experience vaccine reluctance is largely a product of bad information and fear/anxiety.
Specializes in Educator, COVID Paperwork Expert (self-taught).
16 minutes ago, toomuchbaloney said:
I wouldn't say that you are average Annie when it comes to vaccination refusal. You have a college education in the sciences and have a proven ability to make evidence based decisions. Average Annie's don't have that.
Have you had to do much education with vaccine reluctant parents or patients? I have done a great deal with all kinds of people. In my experience vaccine reluctance is largely a product of bad information and fear/anxiety.
Well thank you! I work in long-term care & almost all of the residents got the vaccine, thankfully w/few side effects/reactions. I’m not sure what education was given to the residents; the few who were reluctant were very strongly encouraged to get it. The sad part is that the vaccine has changed nothing about the things we’ve done for almost a year & that’s what they were not educated about; to be fair I don’t think staff members expected things to remain as they have been.
Despite 99+% of residents being vaccinated, we still put two halls in the yellow zone today after a staff member tested positive (no symptoms). So the residents, all fully vaccinated for more than 2 weeks, are completely confined to their rooms for at least the next 2 weeks. Staff members have to gown & glove (in addition to the mask & goggles we already wear—masks for at least 3 days & goggles which may protect staff but do absolutely nothing to protect residents). And the residents have to be tested twice in the next week. Staff members still have to be tested twice a week, whether or not they were vaccinated.
Until a week ago, no visitors—even if the resident and visitor were fully vaccinated. Limited visits now, for Essential Caregivers—who must wear mask & goggles when in the room w/their loved one, again being fully vaccinated changes nothing. AND Essential Visitors all must be rapid tested before every visit, & staff members are all tested twice weekly—even if fully vaccinated.
I guess this long answer is out of the extreme frustration & helpless feeling we all have; these directives come from the health dept & way above the local level so we have no control over the issues I’ve listed above.
the short answer to your comment—I am frustrated by people who refuse from fear & bad info. When people ask me about the vaccine I list the facts & don’t even tell them my choice unless they ask. I don’t think people are *wrong* to get the vaccine, just as I don’t think it’s wrong to not get it. But we should make an informed decision, which includes, in my case working in long-term care, what will or won’t change in my place of work.
**thanks for reading my rant...it’s discouraging more than you can imagine to be in Lo g term care right now.
Do you think that we are creating our own variants here in the USA?
Okay, I found the info I was trying to remember. In NY, we're seeing increases in two variations. One has the E484K mutation that seems to help the virus at least partially get around vaccines and natural immunity; this is found in the B.1.351 (S. African) and P.1 (Brazilian) variants. The other increasing strain has a mutation called S477N that may change how tightly the virus can bind to human cells. They're currently being grouped together as variant B.1.526.
I am educated, thank you. And I'm one of the RN's (along with doctors I know and other nurses I know) refusing these experimental vaccines. We don't know the long-term impact, and will not for some time. My point of view is not based on a lack of education or ignorance.
Furthermore, since the vaccine DOES NOT prevent infection or transmission of the virus, please don't bring up it helps with herd immunity which (would matter if the vaccines did prevent transmission).
Thank you.
8 hours ago, pmabraham said:
I am educated, thank you. And I'm one of the RN's (along with doctors I know and other nurses I know) refusing these experimental vaccines. We don't know the long-term impact, and will not for some time. My point of view is not based on a lack of education or ignorance.
Furthermore, since the vaccine DOES NOT prevent infection or transmission of the virus, please don't bring up it helps with herd immunity which (would matter if the vaccines did prevent transmission).
Thank you.
It's reasonable to differentiate between inferred or indirect evidence and direct evidence, but there is no evidence of any kind to support your claim that the vaccine does not prevent infection or transmission
Every single vaccine for human respiratory viruses in the history of the world has mitigated the factors of transmission to at least some degree. There are a few vaccines for non-respiratory viruses, rotavirus for instance, that only act by preventing severe symptoms of infection, but this is not the case for respiratory virus vaccines, including all currently available Covid vaccines.
Not all respiratory virus vaccines obtain the ideal of full sterilizing immunity, but all reduce the ability of the viruses to replicate in addition to mitigating it's modes of transmission. It's still important of course to confirm that the Covid-19 vaccines aren't the first in history to completely fail to prevent transmission, but there is already evidence specific to Covid-19 vaccines that they do indeed prevent transmission.
The way science works is that no topic is ever considered no longer open to new evidence, we're pretty sure the world is round and not flat based on the available evidence, but to say that because science is always open to the possibility that the world is flat that we can they say the world is definitively not round is pretty silly.
I would agree that it's not a professional duty of nurses to hold any particular political or social views, but spreading blatant misinformation about the effectiveness of vaccines as a public health issue shouldn't be considered acceptable of any licensed nurse.
The vaccine side effects are gnarly. I'm not surprised people are declining it.
Is "gnarly" a technical term?
31 minutes ago, CrunchRN said:
I had zero side effects with Moderna 1 and Moderna 2 felt like a mild flu, but a couple Ibuprofen mitigated 80% of those symptoms within hours.
I will happily take those side effects vs Covid.
My wife and I had a mildly painful arm for less than 24 hours after the Pfizer vaccine. She has had both doses, I am waiting for my second. And I agree, a sore arm versus intubation and drowning in my own secretions seems a good choice.
toomuchbaloney
16,026 Posts
I'm so hopeful that we'll avoid that new strain possibility or that a new strain might be less virulent. Meanwhile, I think we're going to be dealing with this virus for awhile.