rando from filly wrote:
I'm curious to know - and not looking to judge or troll - if you are unvaccinated - why?
100% honest answer and backstory here for why I remain unvaccinated.
I tested positive for covid in November 2020. It was somewhat rough. Lost my taste for a couple days (that was the worst part tbh), body fatigue, fever, just about every symptom of Covid other than the sore throat. Normally I’d run through everything but with the way I was feeling, I felt like it was unwise to run for about a week. Took me a few weeks after that to really start feeling normal again when running.
I was also got sick in February 2020 right around when Covid was starting to become big news in the United States. I had just flown to and from a meet so probably caught whatever it was while traveling. I went to see a doctor which is rare for me but they didn’t give me anything or test me for the flu or anything. That might’ve been the sickest I’ve ever been. I just say it was the flu although I never got an answer. While I was laying in bed running a fever, I had thoughts to myself, “I can see how people die from the flu now.”
After testing positive for Covid which wasn’t nearly as bad as my prior sickness and felt different, I’m pretty sure the first one wasn’t Covid. Since I had Covid, I’ve only been sick one time and it was just in the past month. Just a little rough for a day or so with some lingering symptoms for another week or so. Never saw a doctor but went to work and carried on with everything as normal.
I’m not exactly a strict rule follower as far as wearing masks and social distancing, but I don’t blatantly ignore everything either. I mostly wore a face covering inside in public places through the 2020 fall and 2021 winter/spring. Since outdoor nationals last May, I think I can count the number of occasions that I’ve worn a mask on one hand, the main times being on a plane and going through the airport to/from cross country nationals.
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So finally after all that backstory, here are several of my reasons why I remain unvaccinated and do not wear a mask in almost all scenarios.
1. The main reason is that I’ve thought Covid was an overreaction since day one. Based on my observations and my experiences getting Covid, I don’t think a true vaccine is necessary when comparing to other viruses that we can get and just deal with. I’m totally fine with the vaccines that have been around for years and year and they truly prevent diseases that are much more dangerous than Covid.
2. I don’t trust anyone and what they say about Covid or the “vaccine”. Too much different information coming from different sources, such as the number of people that have died “from Covid” or “with Covid”. I hear everywhere on the news that hospitals are overwhelmed yet I hear from real people that I know and work at hospitals that they are not overwhelmed. This issue has blown up so much that I don’t trust either side. People twist numbers around to fit their narrative. What I do trust is my body’s ability to fight off most viruses on its own, especially a virus that I already contracted and recovered from. I’m relatively young and healthy. I’ve been fine for 30 years, and I’ll be fine for a while longer.
3. I don’t personally know anyone that has struggled really hard with contracting Covid. A few of my runners seemed to struggle getting back to normal more after getting the vaccine compared to actually getting Covid. I probably don’t have any personal stories of people close to me struggling with Covid because pretty much the only people interact with are young healthy runners. That tells me that staying fit does a good enough job with preventing serious complications from Covid.
4. I don’t take very many meds in general. Didn’t take anything when I had Covid. I think I took a few ibuprofen when I was really sick in February 2020. I hate that the answer to everything is becoming more meds. People like shortcuts and the easy way out. Let’s say that taking a given drug and regular exercise with a decent diet have the same chances and success rate of preventing a virus. Most people in America would choose the drug because it’s the more convenient and easier option. I’m against that. Some people that have become diabetic because of poor lifelong diets would probably rather continue to eat like crap while paying for insulin rather than just fixing their diet if that was an option to get rid of the diabetes. My father seems to be one of those people. During lockdown when people had the opportunity to better their health and make better choices, many stayed inside and did the opposite. Some of that may have been because of fear that was struck into them by the media and they were genuinely afraid to go out, and some of that was just laziness.
5. On the masks, I just think all the disposable masks are a waste and they are adding waste to the environment. The benefit of cloth masks that almost everyone wears is not helping anything. People have their hands on too many things and eventually the hands touch the mask or face and everything spreads just as easily. It’s not realistic for humans to wear masks and not be fidgeting with them. Plus I just think negatives of breathing in your own s*** all day is worse for you than a little extra risk of catching Covid even if the masks do help.
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I’ve never been a political person. Never voted for anything or anyone. Didn’t identify as a democrat or a republican or even know what each party’s stance was on major issues. Didn’t care who was President. Never been a person to watch the news and still don’t. I’m a pretty simple person and don’t have many material desires in life, so I’ve never thought twice about getting taxed for this and that. I’ve always just figured that I am responsible for my own destiny, and I can get what I want through hard work no matter who is President. I didn’t think anything would ever change my views opinion on politics until Covid came along. I believe that everything has been mishandled so poorly that I couldn’t help but become more political. It doesn’t help that the President and VP of our country are constantly using the word republican and trying to bring them down just for the sake of doing it. A great leader should be unifying a group of people, and Joe Biden has done a great job of the opposite. I don’t care what someone’s political stance is as long as he or she is a good person. Too much politics in everything nowadays. I just want people to have a desire to work hard, stay physically active, avoid a lifestyle of luxury and take only what is needed (with occasional indulgence), and in general, just be a net positive for society.
There you go.