[azangru]

> Why do I need to be interested when you’re advocating that people don’t take the Covid-19 vaccine?

What are you talking about? I am super happy for people to take their vaccines, the more the merrier. If there's anything I am advocating for it is for them to do so willingly with the full understanding of risks and benefits rather than be forced to do so under duress from the state.

> What is the risk? What are the numbers? Explain exactly what the risk is and explain exactly what the risk numbers are.

I am not sure I understand what you are asking for here. Nor am I sure that you quite understand it either. If you are asking for the official position on the risks, you can easily look it up yourself on the CDC web site [0]. If, on the other hand, you are asking me to review all available data on adverse events associated with the vaccines, then I am sure you realize that this is a monumental task for a full-time job, and not for a conversation in an online forum.

> And that was at an over abundance of caution. But you can just… take the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine?

There is a paper, submitted in April 2021, which estimates that the risk of thrombotic events for Pfizer recipients is even greater than for those who received AstraZeneca [1]. So if those over-cautious agencies suspended AstraZeneca over concerns about thrombosis, what would they have done to Pfizer, and what are we, the public, to think of it all?

> Yet you draw the line at vaccines? That’s irrational. You know the danger.

It probably is, yes. As for knowing the danger though, I would submit that typically you don't. Or try not to. Knowing the danger would leave some (or many) of us paralyzed.

[0]: E.g.: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/ad...

[1]: https://osf.io/a9jdq/

[ericmay]

> If there's anything I am advocating for it is for them to do so willingly with the full understanding of risks and benefits rather than be forced to do so under duress from the state.

> There is a paper, submitted in April 2021, which estimates that the risk of thrombotic events for Pfizer recipients is even greater than for those who received AstraZeneca [1]. So if those over-cautious agencies suspended AstraZeneca over concerns about thrombosis, what would they have done to Pfizer, and what are we, the public, to think of it all?

> "What are you talking about? I am super happy for people to take their vaccines, the more the merrier."

Yep. That's totally what you're saying.

[azangru]

Yes, this is exactly what I am saying. I did not say a word about whether people should or should not take the vaccine. Obviously, as long as vaccines work, the more people get them the better. This is a statement of fact. What I wrote about in my previous comments is why some people are hesitant.

That you chose to read my comments as an instruction for people on how to act, is entirely on you.

[ericmay]

Yep. Totally take the vaccine but beware of the risks.. wink wink.

Meanwhile the risks are negligible at best, especially when considering the alternative which might be getting a disease we know for a fact has killed hundreds of thousands of people in the United States alone.

But hey let's focus on the totally big deal risks of vaccines. Right? It's like someone talking about flying for the first time - oh you should do it but beware of the risks... here's a link to the one in 5 million "probability" of something bad happening.

Yep. That's totally on me.

[azangru]

> Totally take the vaccine but beware of the risks.. wink wink.

> It's like someone talking about flying for the first time - oh you should do it but beware of the risks...

You keep framing this ("totally take the vaccine", "oh you should do it") as if I were trying to convince somebody on what they should do. Or, earlier, as if I were trying to change your mind on vaccine safety. While what I was talking about was something that a hesitant person might say, or feel, or think.

Turn your airplane metaphor around. In it, if I were extremely scared of flying, and if I tried to explain to you why I were afraid of flying, I would not be doing it with the purpose of keeping you from flying, but so that you did not drag me on that god damn plane, and also, hopefully, did not make my life on the ground miserable. While you keep interpreting it as "oh, so what you are saying is that people shouldn't fly?".

[ericmay]

Except by doing so you're creating fear, uncertainty, and doubt where none need exist. It's even worse too because you not flying makes no difference. You not getting a vaccine means a transmission vector and potentially premature death for others.