It is becoming clear that there are a small number of people in all walks of life who are hesitating before having a COVID vaccine – even if they have high-risk jobs! One common reason for this seems to be that they are concerned that the available vaccines have been developed too quickly and therefore must be less safe in some way.
This is actually incorrect. In the past, we would have had to go through many more steps (eg isolate active virus, grow it in the lab, both of which could take years) that we no longer have to because of the new science we are following. Because we no longer have to go through those steps we save all that time – and the vaccines are safer to produce and use because we no longer use active virus so more time is saved.
The ‘new science’ isn’t actually that new either – this type of vaccine has been in development for decades in preparation for exactly this type of pandemic.
Read more about why we have been able to produce these highly effective vaccines so quickly, yet do it safely here https://www.theguardian.com/…/ten-reasons-we-got-covid…
The message is clear – the risk to your health caused by not being vaccinated for COVID-19 far exceeds any risk to your health that may be caused by being vaccinated. This situation is likely to be true for years ahead, the problem won’t go away if you are not vaccinated as there will likely be variants circulating for some time yet, and there is already talk of an annual booster vaccination to protect us from those as well. Get yourself protected!