, but I only really care about it to the extent that it’s a risk to other people.

It’s almost always a risk to other people. I can’t think of a vaccine that is for a non-communicable disease. Not getting vaccinated means you can become a carrier or get sick and spread the illness. This means that herd immunity is lowered and people who can’t get the vaccine, or those who did but whose bodies didn’t adapt to it, are vulnerable to that person spreading it. Not getting vaccinated can mean you are liable (not legally) for other people’s deaths!

A chickenpox infection lingers in the body and can surface years later as shingles, which can be debilitating, especially for older adults. Having personally had shingles as a teenager when it’s not dangerous, I can assure you that you don’t want to get it because someone else refused to get vaccinated. When I had it, vaccines for chickenpox and shingles didn’t exist yet.

I can’t really endorse literally forcing vaccinations, but penalties for not being vaccinated are ok in my book.

Wait, do you think chickenpox isn’t contagious?

No

In general, my take is that people should be entitled to a warning, but if they still want to do something to themselves that is a really bad idea and the impact is pretty much on them, well…

This literally is the status quo.

The problem is that the impact is not only on them. There are people who are immunocompromised, particularly the elderly and cancer patients undergoing chemo, and children too young to get various vaccines, and they rely on herd immunity to avoid getting these diseases that might kill them or get them seriously ill or complicate their medical situation. So it’s specifically societies most vulnerable populations that are harmed, which is bad, not to mention the possibility that with enough spread the viruses could mutate and get around vaccines which would threaten everyone else.

And then you have to weigh those real harms against…what, exactly? People just…don’t want to? Because of their incorrect belief that the vaccines are more harmful than helpful?

The government exists to handle externalities like contagion and pollution and caring for vulnerable groups. Arguably, we should be a lot harsher on requiring vaccinations, like how we were on polio. But we aren’t.

Cletus, you can say “fuck” on the Internet. Then again, I’m inclined to believe that given your lack of punctuation or correct spelling throughout your entire post, that maybe you think it’s actually spelled “fuk”.

And God damn do I love the hypocrisy on “believing the narrative”. Sure, we listen to the advice of the medical community, but at least I’m not taking my medical advice from a bunch of 4chan incels and facebook-addicted, soccer moms. The “narrative” lmfao, bro your entire narrative was spoonfed to you by the internet you bottom feeder.

What next mate? You wanna harp on about how vaccines are making people magnetic or the evil 5G?

It’s a proven technology. Did you think Polio and Measles just went away on their own? When the polio vaccine became a thing, people lined up around the street to take them because they had firsthand experience with how debilitating these diseases are. It’s quite literally miracle technology.

People who are against vaccination have been used by con artists who will say anything inflammatory to gain notoriety and money and be on talk shows and sell books. Be mad at the people who fleeced you.

Now these diseases that have no place in modern society are making a comeback because of it.

You are a complete ducking wackadoo.

I really typically don’t wish harm on anyone but part of me would just wish you’d get Polio because then you’d get what you deserve. You would then finally see why people vaccinate, though you’re probably dumb enough to even then, while you’re in an iron lung, talk about how it’s all the governments fault because you know everything that Facebook taught you!

You are so facepalmingly dumb… I know that’s not an argument is but seriously, the stupid hurts. Literally, here, as millions have died rather gruesome deaths because they believed the same stupid bullshit you believe in, and here you are regurgitating the same slogans.

An anti-vaxxer? In my Lemmy?

It’s more likely than you think.

Yeah, you are the type of mentally (and morally) deficient person who should just be forcibly be vaccinated. Don’t like it? Get fined, get jailed, and the get vaccinated anyway against your will. I don’t care at this point.

“But muh rights?!?!??” F¥°¢k your rights. You do NOT have the right to risk the lives of others, which right now you do.

“But evil guvermunt!!!” Welcome to the real world where this has shit to do with governments, this is about medical science. A virus doesn’t give a crap about your opinions about your government. Also: Can you get it in your wooden head that the US is NOT the only country in the world? There are hundreds of other countries.

Your lack of scientific knowledge is NOT an excuse, your conspiracy brain is no excuse either.

Going somewhere else won’t solve the issue. Vaccinate, period, end of discussion

That’s why I said with exceptions for those that have legitimate medical reasons, doctors should have to sign off on that.

And quickly for those that think “ooohhh, I’m a doctor and I’m antivaxxer, I can sign” (and yeah, those exist unfortunately) you wouldn’t be the first one to go to jail for that, though as far as om concerned, if you mess with human safety because of your conspiracy beliefs, you can go to jail for 20 years instead of 2.

Yup. You got to suffer and itch for a week while bathing in oatmeal and coating yourself in calamine lotion.

I’ll never forget how it felt when they were popping, even over 40 years later.

I got it from my sister as a kid. I felt fine. She is six years older and was pretty bad with it.

As others have already noted, vaccination wasn’t an option and parents would get their children chickenpox on purpose when they were young, because it can be much worse when you get older.

I don’t think I’ve ever had the vaccine. I did have chickenpox before 1995.

My understanding is , besides cost, the virus is just so contagious, that it’s an all or nothing proposal.
Vaccination is always better for the individual, but for the “herd” it’s actually worse unless you can get almost everyone at once. That would have been hard enough before that arsehole Wakefield and even moreso now.

But it’s a numbers game. Our doctors looked at the statistics and made a recommendation when the vaccine became available, but now there is actual data on a generation of it’s use in other countries to add to that analysis. Maybe that will lead to a change in policy, maybe it will just affirm it. If a change is deemed to be worth it in the long run, the transition period would be difficult.