[New Englander]

Originally Posted by dtennent

First - with regard to the small pox vaccinations - they were discontinued in the US when there was no small pox in most of the world. Today, there are no known cases of small pox anywhere in the world. Hence, there is no need to vaccinate people against small pox.

Second - While most people will suffer only mild conditions with Covid-19, the fact is ICU units were being swamped by the folks who suffered from serious conditions. While I am very healthy, I am not willing to bet that I won't need an ICU bed.

Third - We are just learning about the longer term effects from this virus with folks who seemed to have only mild symptoms.

I have no disagreement with your stating that these vaccines were developed at "warp speed". However, given the situation, I think the collective government agencies from around the world did the appropriate thing. The usual development of vaccines ( or any drug) takes 10+ years. This is to minimize risk to larger test groups. The initial smaller group tests with years of review were skipped. Instead larger groups were tested much sooner meaning that the individuals in those trials were at greater risk than what would normally happen. The results from those trials showed that some vaccines were not effective (and the trial stopped - Merck vaccine) or that the vaccines were effective and were scaled up.

While I respect your decision not to get vaccinated, please don't use scare tactics to persuade others to follow your decision.

Excellent Post!