A huge majority of the minority of people who choose to not vaccinate are highly educated, considerate, socially conscious, loving, kind, and responsible human beings. There are many valid reasons why people choose to not vaccinate. As someone who has experienced vaccine injury (on several occasions) and serious injury from pharmaceutical medications, I recognize the profound insight of Dr. Bonnie Henry/B.C. Health’s non-mandatory approach to medicine and the Covid vaccine specifically.
Dr. Henry’s wisdom recognizes that no medical intervention is good for everyone all of the time. Prescribed pharmaceuticals (which includes vaccines) are a leading cause of death worldwide. On average there are 328,000 deaths caused by properly prescribed pharmaceutical drugs each year (US and Europe combined.) This is as many deaths as are caused by strokes, the 4th leading cause of death. Injury by pharmaceuticals is a huge issue that many are unaware of. I only became aware, by having severe reactions that became life crippling and took me over a decade to recover from. https://ethics.harvard.edu/blog/new-prescription-drugs-major-health-risk-few-offsetting-advantages.
This is not to say that all pharmaceuticals or vaccines are “bad.” New drugs are the most dangerous as they have more unknown side effects, this is compounded in vaccines because there are far fewer safeguards and medical trials before vaccines are allowed to enter the market. The Covid vaccine is being rushed through this process. It can take 5 or more years of a drug being on the market to begin to understand how vast the counter indications are. I honour the many people in our country who choose to vaccinate, and those who consciously make a different, yet informed choice not to. I hope for more mutual respect and kindness for people in this emotionally charged topic. Shaming and condescension of people who choose not to vaccinate is common and celebrated in some circles. We are often unfairly portrayed as ignorant, selfish, uncaring conspiracy theorists.
May we continue to have the freedom to choose biologically appropriate medicines that help us to be truly healthy and well, individually and as a beautiful diverse community.
Robin Flynn
Nelson