My sister, an EU citizen has always had her regular vaccinations and her children too. However, now even the children are adults in their 20’s she discourages them from having the Covid-19 vaccination just yet. She says: “We do not know yet if down the line they will give birth to children with a third arm on their back” (she worries about possible birth defects). However, she is more willing, despite reluctantly, to have the jab herself and thinks that it is especially more ok for our parents, who are in their 80’s to have the jab. She feels that in their case the immediate benefit from the vaccination, not getting Covid-19, might outweigh the possibility of hidden side effects in years to come, especially as things such as birth defects in future offspring are not relevant in the 80 years old anymore.
Personally, I do not think the vaccine was rushed. It was done much quicker than other vaccines, due to the urgent need and the cooperation of scientists and governments around the world. As this disease affects wealthy nations and their economies, more efforts and money are thrown at it than if it was something in a secluded village in a developing country. Therefore, I feel lucky to be living in such country that has the resources to vaccinate people.
It has been recently in the BBC radio news (Tuesday 2/2/21) that most care home residents have been vaccinated, but there was a limited intake in care home staff. I wonder if this is something to do with the situation that many care home staff are people who are foreign born and in their country of origin there is a mistrust of the vaccine. I have also heard that there seems to be an anti-vaccine sentiment in some EU countries at the moment and some care home staff come from there.
I spoke recently to somebody from EU country that joined the block in the later years who was very mistrustful of the vaccine. What makes it even more problematic, some governments are rather strict and forceful in the way they approach the pandemic and how they treat their citizens. This creates mistrust of authorities and with it comes a mistrust of the vaccine. Some people even believe the vaccine will implant a microchip that will be controlling them from within themselves. And they assume it is serving the interest of wealthy western multinational companies. I have been also told that people in the less wealthy EU countries do not trust the wealthier countries as there have been cases where the multinational companies use their citizens as cheap labour and contracts designed to support producers in richer countries force the citizens of less wealthy countries to accept lesser quality products in their shops. So, some citizens feel that the vaccine is just another way for the wealthier countries to control them in some way or to experiment on them in a way.
Why did I not have my flu vaccine when offered when I was homeless? I was worried that possible side effects would be much harder to manage for me as a homeless person than a housed person. To start with, despite I could sleep at night shelters, I had to spend whole day outside and carry my suitcase with me the whole day. I could not have a lie-down if feeling poorly during the day and a sore arm from the jab would have made it harder for me to carry my suitcase around. I also worried that if I had some kind of reaction and throw up in the night shelter, I would have embarrassed myself in front of the other homeless people and the staff. So, I refused having the flu vaccine back then. I am now housed and much keener to have vaccines as I feel I have somewhere to curl up if I had any side effects. Additionally, looking back when homeless, I felt that I was constantly controlled in some way and manipulated into things, some more beneficial to me than others. Maybe the luck of control over their lives makes some homeless people mistrustful of anything offered by the authorities. When homeless you are often told that you have to accept something that you are not so keen on or you will receive no help at all. This might also mean that some homeless people might not be too sure about the vaccine.
Moreover, there are some people experiencing homelessness who despite being keen on having the vaccine face logistical barriers such as having no address to receive their letter or/and not being registered with the GP. I have heard that at the moment there are some efforts by the government, the NHS and homeless charities to make it logistically possible for homeless people to receive the vaccination. Also, there are efforts to include homeless people in the vulnerable groups as a priority for being vaccinated. This is definitely a move in the right direction.
However, I am not sure how to encourage some homeless people who do not trust the vaccine to trust the vaccine more. The mistrust might come from many things, including misinformation, fear or inequality. I guess, if homeless people felt treated by the authorities more as equal individuals and their opinions and preference were more respected, they would feel less mistrustful. Perhaps homeless charities explaining the safety and usefulness of the vaccine as well as enabling people’s voice to be heard more could help, but there is a long way to go. Especially, as the fundamental thing in my mind is that it is not good that in a powerful wealthy country such as the UK it is even possible that so many of its own people are street homeless in the middle of a pandemic. But this is something for another debate.
You can find more information about the vaccine and the issues raised above on Groundswell’s website here: https://groundswell.org.uk/the-covid-19-vaccine/.
