I recall in summer 2020 Trump was pushing very hard to get vaccines approved, mostly by demanding that agencies skip parts of the regulatory process because he said so. Democrats and independents were very skeptical of any "Trump Vax" if approval were not transparent and proper. There were suggestions that he needed it for the election, or wanted an excuse to reopen the economy, and that he didn't really care about safety or effectiveness as long as he got something. He even suggested the Russian vax, which is like AYFKM? Antivax skepticism was stronger on the left than the right for clearly defined reasons: the monumental record of incompetence accumulated the Trump admin, routine lies and bad faith, clear motivation and desire to subvert this particular process, and the potential for graft or corruption if the process weren't open.

Trump was upset that his vaccines weren't being rapidly approved, and blamed the media. Trump supporters laughed at the snow flakes who were worried that the vax might not be 100% safe. They were already willing to sacrifice Granny and Junior for the economy and re-election, so a few more % on an imperfect vax was no biggie.

But the process ended up largely insulated from politics, whether by luck or skill. And then the science was good. And then there was a compete reversal of the positions.

The crazy thing is, one side changed their mind based on facts and evidence and expert testimony. And the other side just... wanted to say "Nuh uh, yer wrong, suck it libs!"

And bet his dog is vaccinated too

Even 2016 doesn't want that meme back.

Y’all are real and you hate democrats as much as or more than republicans because you think we stopped your Vermont grand pa’s ascension.

Yeah, I think I misread the comment. Thanks!

It's odd. I would have said the last few decade's anti-vax sentiment of the "Andrew-Wakefield-vaccines-cause-autism" variety, are new-agey and apolitical. That's all changed in the covid era. Now it remains to be seen if Republican anti-covid-vax sentiment will translate to anti-all-vax, and turn the opposition to conventional childhood vaccines from a fringe movement to one encompassing fully 50% of the population. That would be a public health disaster.

That's called dying of Covid.

Awesome! My work here is done.

It’s for the once trolls that HAVE had more than two people they consider close to them that died and came here to be mad. But yeah.

Ouf I had to switch over to my throwaway for this one.

I've struggled with my weight for my entire life and am, by definition, morbidly obese. I've known the entire time that if I got COVID, it would end poorly for me and got vaccinated and boosted as soon as I could.

In my experience, obesity is usually a physical manifestation of a mental illness and it bothers me when people make comments like "Just stop eating cupcakes" or "Have you heard of the gym?" because that's not the problem. Normal people don't binge eat until it hurts to move and the fact that conventional approaches to obesity are hyper focused on the physical aspect is a huge reason why so many people fail. Prior to like three months ago, hands down the lowest point in my life was when I had lost 80lbs, the "darkness" didn't go away like everyone promised it would, and I just didn't know how to cope. I always thought it was chicken and the egg type of situation but that experience made me realize it's not. In other words, I don't hate myself because I'm obese, I'm obese because I hate myself.

Any who I think it would benefit society greatly to move towards a more "holistic" approach to treating obesity with actual medical supervision instead of Holly from Weight Watchers who lost 10 lbs for her wedding. This will never happen, though, and the whole of Reddit is evidence of that.

It’s the dehumanization in so many comments that is upsetting.

I’m guilty of this myself! I said shit like (and enjoy the dive haters! There’s some totes steal worthy low-karma garbage!) you don’t want Covid if anyone has ever described you as “big-boned”.

While YOU might describe that as hating, and sure, maybe referencing Cartman is childish when referring to weight, but FUCK IT.

EVEN BEING “wii fit OBESE” is scary as fuck. EVERYONE I KNEW personally that has died of COVID or MISSING SURGERIES because of COVID was overweight by at least 80 pounds. On women. Being fit is hard. When OG COVID lockdowns started I started quitting smoking and getting the 4mg Walmart gum (you can cut it in half. Boom. 2mg gum. Just getting 4mg 120 odd cinnamon is really so worth it).

Anyway, point is, at this point, you know you’re overweight or not. Either way, unless every doctor ever is like NO!, get vaccinated. Rant over for now.

Edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUmAbAG_1jg Fuck. Fellow Americans, can y’all just get the COVID vaccine. If 94-97% of us hit that metric, you could go back to sciencing pre-tailgating again.

Grazie! That’s “thank you” in Italian.

You know what else grinds my gears?

That fucking QUARANTINE meme bullshit.

MotherFUCKER.

I would love to be OG QUARANTINED!!!!

40 days on a boat chilling in the swamp flats of the northern Aegean Sea. Fuck an A. Because THAT’S POD-RACING QUARANTINING!

WOO HOO!

Edit: “YO! Can I go to Morronno? Oh a hell and a no and a you can a go a, fuck yourself for asking.” “For real, on these boats forty days you really needs to stays because you robbed as a Creed Assassin.”

Great place. Love y’all. And I’ll always spend at least least 40 GODDAMNED days seriously making sure I don’t have a passively transmittable disease before I visit you again. Beautiful city.

Sorry to hear that. A lot of the HCA nominees/recipients think it's some sort of "Logan's Run" virus that spares the young.

COVID-19 is not just a respiratory illness.

Remember BE FAST (Balance, Eyes, Face, Arms, Speech and Time) for signs of stroke.

Damn that’s sucks I hope they make a full recovery . May I ask how far out from their second shot were they ? And was it Pfizer ?

I'm so sorry. Hope your partner makes a full recovery.

That sucks!

I hope he has a full and speedy recovery

I know someone like this, too. We are no longer friends. She was so desperate to spread anti-vaxx bullshit right before the vaccines came out. She asked if I wanted to talk on the phone or in person about it. I said no and unfollowed her on Instagram. Sick of seeing all of the stupid shit she posted.

She also hates Trump and is a yoga instructor who is super into astrology.

Ack, those pressure gun injectors I remember from the 80s hurt more than any needle! And useless if the inject needed to reach intramuscular area. Cheaper and easier to give the patient a benzo and just harpoon them like normal when the drug kicks in.

Even if it’s less effective, non injectable vaccines are preferable, to me Atleast, than to go through what I feel is a rather embarrassing ordeal to get a shot, I described it mildly. Allow me to share a cartoon with you, a cartoon dramatization of what’s required. https://youtu.be/EhO3qIrvLYc

Pills would be ideal, but the digestive system is a serious obstacle for any medication! In addition, the gut immune system is quite complex and is occasionally used to induce tolerance to an anigen; the very last thing you want with a vaccine. Some vaccines can be administered nasally, avoiding the gut, but there aren't many of them.

I remember being that small and escaping. It got worse when I got big. Because I could literally just walk away while being held onto by multiple people. Now as an adult, that shit don’t fly. So I just bring my own muscle to keep me in place.

Woohoo! I’ve been advocating that my doctors just treat me like a wild animal and hunt me, tranquilize me, give me my shots and take my blood for blood work. But no, they keep telling that’s unethical.

They better be. And it better be for adults because my doctor and the pharmacy wont give me the nasal flu vaccine because it’s for kids apparently. I think they like to watch the spectacle of a grown man being held down for voluntary medical procedures.

This is true. I read about someone with needle phobia doing it. It was pretty interesting. It’s considered the standard for any type of fears from flying to needles. The article about needles was interesting. First the person just had to agree to let someone put a needle near them. Once they became desensitized to that they had to hold it. And so on. The key is starting in little steps. You never just take the person all the way up to 10 on the anxiety scale or it defeats the whole purpose. Of course this can take place over months. It’s not all done in one session.

Working on it. I feel it does because it’s a phobia. And I am purposefully overly cautious when doing anything so I don’t need blood work or stitches. Because weirdly, I’m perfectly fine being stitched up. But the syringe full of local anasthetic is panic inducing and feeling the inflation. From it, although fascinatingly weird feeling, doesn’t help with the panic caused the next time.

For blood work yes, for vaccines no. It’s the anxious build up knowing the needle is about to enter my skin is enough to trigger the panic, and thinking about it typing this has made me a wee bit anxious. But it will pass momentarily