Aug 28, 2021 07:01AM
melbo
wrote:
my biggest source of anger about those who aren’t getting the vaccine out of personal preference is that their choice doesn’t just affect them, it affects them, their families, anyone who comes into contact with them, and ultimately the general public and all of society. I have zero anger toward the people who can’t get the vaccine for health reasons, but I am angry on their behalf.
To get the vaccine or not is not like the choice for breast cancer patients to take an AI or get chemo. For cancer patients, you can look at your specific situation, get advice from an oncologist or two and find out the standard of care and various options and risks, and then make the decision that will only affect you and the people you are close to.
With the vaccine, misinformation is spreading rampantly and distrust is extremely high, but the decisions to get vaccinated has life and death implications that affect you, your family, and literally everyone you come into contact with, regardless of whether you wear a mask or not. (Masks help, everyone should wear them — but they were never expected to completely protect everyone all of the time.) And of course, beyond the actual life and death risks an unvaccinated person is taking at this point with the delta variant, they are also helping this pandemic continue, giving covid more opportunities to mutate yet again, and prolonging all of the various mitigation efforts that stress us all out and make us angry.
For those of us on this forum, I have an even harder time understanding hesitation. If you’re here, you were most likely diagnosed with cancer and understand the sheer fear that diagnosis causes. And then you almost certainly got treated — almost certainly with surgery, and a high likelihood of either chemo, radiation, or an AI — or all of the above. Chemo is literal poison — but when faced with the prospect of chemo, most of us look at our risks and decide the poison will do. The vaccine has some side effects, sure, and some things are unknown about it — but at this point it has been tested millions of times on millions of people and has proven to be a safe, effective way to save lives. And unlike the choice to have chemo or take an AI, the decision to vaccine or not affects everyone.
This is why I’m angry.
Diagnosed right before my 42nd birthday. One husband, two dogs, one cat and no kids.
Dx
7/16/2020, IDC, Left, 2cm, Stage IIA, Grade 3, 1/7 nodes, ER-/PR-, HER2+
Targeted Therapy
8/7/2020 Herceptin (trastuzumab)
Targeted Therapy
8/7/2020 Perjeta (pertuzumab)
Chemotherapy
8/7/2020 Carboplatin (Paraplatin), Taxotere (docetaxel)
Surgery
12/20/2020 Lumpectomy; Lumpectomy (Left); Lymph node removal; Reconstruction (Left); Reconstruction (Right)
Radiation Therapy
1/31/2021 Whole breast: Breast, Lymph nodes