Reasonable Reasons Not To Take The Vaccine?

I have heard several reasonable, intelligent, sensible people give their reasons for not taking the Covid vaccine. They are as follows:

1. It was rushed to market.

2. It didn't undergo proper safety trials.

3. It contains mRNA which affects our cells (albeit which is designed to help your body).
   

4. There are stories of nasty short-term effects.

5. There is potential for long-term harmful effects.

6. There's no need to do something risky when there are safe cures available such as hydroxychloroquine.

7. Various knowledgeable people, with no financial interest, are not in favor of it. 

The thing is, the exact same arguments are vastly more applicable as reasons to be more afraid of Covid than of the vaccine:

1. Covid was rushed to market.

2. It didn't undergo any safety trials - just danger trials.

3. It contains RNA which affects our cells - and which is designed to harm them.

4. There are vastly more stories of much nastier short-term effects - including death.

5. There is enormous evidence for long-term harmful effects, including brain, heart and lung damage, amongst many other things. (Unlike the vaccine, where there isn't actually any particular reason to think that there can be long-term harmful effects.)

6. There's no need to do something really risky, like potentially getting Covid, or taking something like hydroxychloroquine which is known to be potentially very dangerous, when there is a vaccine available which has already been safely tested on millions of people. 

7. The overwhelming majority of knowledgeable people, with no financial interest, are firmly in favor of it.

But what about the fact that you might not actually get Covid? There are two responses to be made to that.

First is that the new strains of Covid are far more contagious. That's why even though so many people in Israel have been vaccinated and there has been a partial lockdown, there are still thousands of new cases daily. To presume that you won't catch Covid is simply foolish.

Second is that the question "Is it in my best interests to get the vaccine?" is a selfish one. The entire country is suffering from the hospital overload and the economic shutdown. Things can only go back to normal when a sufficiently large proportion of the population gets the vaccine.

Do the smart thing for your health. Do the right thing for your country. Get the vaccine. 

 (Incidentally, I ran all the above by two PhDs in the medical sciences.)

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