A very interesting video about the COVID-19 vaccine situation in New Zealand has just been released by Dr Sam Bailey:
Vaccine Misinformation MythologyIt's about 15 minutes long, and includes a couple of short clips from Project Veritas, which has recently exposed how Facebook is working to suppress information that might lead to vaccine hesitancy, and also how FOX News is promoting COVID-19 vaccines and not sharing any stories about side effects because they are receiving generous donations from the pharmaceutical companies making the vaccines. It also looks at the efforts of our mainstream media and government to promote themselves as "the only source of truth" for the COVID vaccine.
I myself am on the fence when it comes to vaccines generally - not fully opposed, but not fully in favour either. I certainly don't think that people should ever be forced to take vaccines. Moreover, the mainstream media's scoffing attitude to so-called "anti-vaxxers" has always troubled me. They very seldom come right out and say what the anti-vaccine position is all about. Surely responsible journalism should include stating the main ideas about something, even if those ideas are then subsequently refuted? But all you ever hear, most of the time, is that anti-vaxxers are "crazy" or "dangerous" without any real explanation as to why. Makes you wonder about the extent to which Big Pharma is greasing the palms of the mainstream media. And as the Project Veritas exposé of FOX showed, the conservative media are not ... immune from this, either.
From the outset, I have not been keen on the COVID-19 vaccines. The new method (mRNA), the indecent haste at which they have been developed, and the side effects (which the mainstream media have actually covered, at least up to a point) all make me firmly "vaccine hesitant". And what increases my concern about them is the way the media (both news and social) are acting. There is a move, in NZ and elsewhere, to aggressively promote the vaccines (on the basis that they will "end the pandemic" and "restore our freedoms") and suppress information, even VERIFIABLY TRUE information which can be found on government Web sites or in mainstream media reports, that might cause people to have an unfavourable view of them. When Project Veritas exposed what Facebook was doing, they didn't even deny it. The big pharmaceutical companies behind the vaccines must be making obscene amounts of money from the sale of them to different countries, and of course the more people take the jab, the more money they get.
Another thing that bothers me about the COVID vaccines is that they don't even give you immunity from the virus! Allegedly, they reduce your symptoms, but you can still catch it and potentially spread it. Isn't the point of a vaccine to get immunity and stop the spread of disease? So all those factors really add up to me not wanting to have the COVID jab. At this stage, I am not yet eligible for it anyway. However, my parents are, and neither of them have been notified about the vaccine being available to them.
Here in Wellington, we have just gone up to Alert Level 2 (out of a possible four) due to someone from Sydney visiting last weekend while potentially infectious. (That person has returned to Sydney and tested positive over there - I might add they'd had one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, albeit 10-12 weeks ago). If there is an outbreak, no doubt the demand for vaccination will greatly increase ...