>>13003271My reasoning is as follows:
Taking the vaccine is a matter of whether the possible advantages weigh up against possible side-effects.
For simplicity sake I leave out 'societal' things such as possibilities to travel etc.
Advantages:
- (Partial) immunity against COVID-19
Disadvantages:
- Short term side effects (ex. blod clots)
- Long term side effects
A very specific example of these things not weighing up, is in young women taking astra zenica. From what I read (which admittingly is not a lot) the chance of developing a blood clot from the vaccine is as large, as the chance of getting COVID, and dying from it. Obviously there's unknown long term effects with the vaccine as well, thus making it not smart to get the vaccine imho.
This was an example for a specific group of people, with a specific vaccine, and I do think that for most people, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, both short and long term.
Other examples of groups that probably would fair better without the vaccine are people that have already had COVID, or people with immunity disorders/diseases (or take immuno-depressants).
People that have already had corona, are most likely immune, or at least will have an extremely reduced risk of becoming severely ill again from the virus (exception for people with immune system disorders of course).
Although people with immune system disorders/diseases or taking immune suppressants have an extremely high risk of becoming severely ill, they cannot effectively build up immunity against the virus anyways.
This means in both cases that they have negligible benefits, yet face the same or even greater short term risks. Add to this the possible long term risks which are yet unknown but possible, and this means that for some groups it is just not smart to get vaccines.
Note that this is all evaluated on an individual level with regards to health, it disregards herd immunity and also societal impacts such as ability to travel etc.