Most common arguments against Covid-19 vaccination in Georgia

Arguments of Covid-19 vaccine skeptics in Georgia

In 2019, the World Health Organization ranked vaccine distrust as one of the ten global issues of vital importance to humankind.

This was a year before the pandemic. Because of the coronavirus, the anti-vaccination movement has become the number one problem.

The fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic has hit Georgia with up to 5,000 new cases being detected daily, and up to 40 people diying every day.

At the same time, the number of those vaccinated does not even reach 5% of the population. The main reason for this, according to health experts, is that the government started vaccinating people too late and did nothing to convince the opponents of the vaccine, did not conduct any campaign to explain why the coronavirus vaccinations are so are important.

Consequently, there are still too many people in the country who are not going to get vaccinated, more specifically 45% percent, according to the recent IRI poll of June this year.

JAMnews compiled the most popular arguments from vaccine opponents

Argument 1: Coronavirus vaccines are not fully researched. This is an experimental vaccine. It takes several years for a vaccine to fully demonstrate its effectiveness.

Most often, this argument is repeated by people who do not think about what a “third phase of clinical trials” is. There is no logic in this argument.

The virus itself has definitely managed to prove its “effectiveness” causing up to 40 deaths in Georgia every day. The virus itself can kill tomorrow, and not in ten years’ time.

Almost five billion people in the world have already gotten vaccinated – is it not enough to stop considering this vaccine experimental?

Argument 2: This vaccine was made so quickly, there must be something wrong with it.

There really was something wrong with it- the scientists had very little time because the virus was spreading very quickly, the death rates were high. And that on its own was enough a reason to hurry.

It turned out to be of great help that a lot of work had already been done to create a vaccine against another type of SARS virus. Work on the vaccine was not completed due to lack of funding, but “thanks” to the pandemic, there were both finances and ways to speed up the work. To create the first vaccine against Covid-19, scientists used a model of another vaccine and this significantly reduced their time.

Argument 3: Vaccine complications are rare and can kill one in a million. But what if it turns out to be me or one of my relatives ?!

But the likelihood of dying from the coronavirus is much higher. The coronavirus kills dozens of people every day. Many survivors struggle with severe health complications for months. One can cite as an example the story of the opposition politician and ex-Minister of Defense of Georgia Tina Khidasheli. She defeated Covid, but so far she cannot cope with its consequences, it is still difficult for her to even walk. Now Tina is undergoing rehabilitation in one of the clinics in Germany and encourages everyone to get vaccinated. We wish her a quick recovery!

Argument 4: If the vaccine is so good, why don’t you get vaccinated

First of all, the most influential, wealthy, and educated people – scientists, world leader,s and billionaires – have already done that. Only the uninformed conspiracy theorists, victims of fake news, and citizens of countries with lazy and ineffective governments remain unvaccinated..

Argument 5: But the vaccinated also get infected with Covid

Yes, a fully vaccinated person can get infected. But the main thing in this matter is that the vaccinated people do not die. And this is the main argument in favor of vaccines. There is a huge difference between a mild form of Covid-19 and being put in an intensive care.

Argument 6: Doctors themselves are not vaccinated.

Unfortunately, there are very few doctors in Georgia in the modern sense of the word

A doctor is someone who constantly improves their skills, keeps up with the news, knows things, and is ready to act according to modern protocols.

Medicine today is like a news release. Yesterday’s data may be hopelessly outdated today. The usual medicine can be replaced by another, more effective, albeit unexpected one. A doctor who does not follow international guidelines is not a reliable doctor.

Real doctors who believe in progress and science vaccinated a long time ago.

Argument 7: I won’t get sick anyway, because I don’t go anywhere and I wear a mask.

Haven’t you heard the stories about the person being almost completely isolated but got infected anyway?

The whole point of Covid is that thousands of people carry the virus asymptomatically. They infect others without even knowing it.

Now that a certain segment of the population is vaccinated, the number of asymptomatic Covid-positive infections will increase even more, because if the vaccine is found with the virus, it is often asymptomatic.

This means that the virus will now more often spread asymptomatically, and the brunt of the blow will be directed at you, people without vaccination.