I recently went to a clinic that was specialising in travel health. As I was planning to travel to somewhere exotic, I wanted to make sure my vaccinations are complete and up to date.
So what I did was I researched the vaccine recommendations for my destination, and then compared that list with what I have. I noted when I received these vaccines before, and then armed with that knowledge, I went to the clinic to determine if these vaccines are still valid or whether they need to be boosted with another shot. So far, everything looked good, but I ended up getting another shot of yellow fever vaccine. This is primarily not health-related but more bureaucracy-related: I do have a yellow fever vaccine from 2007, and the latest health guidance is that it has life-long effectivity, yet most of the border control requirements still think that it is only valid for ten years and therefore there is the risk that I would be held up at a border as my vaccine is "too old". So I simply got a new one.
For me, vaccines are a scientific advancement. So when Covid happened and vaccines started to be developed, I had no doubt that I would take them. In fact, nowadays, I intend to take it once a year, similar to the influenza vaccine. So I am surprised when every now and then I hear someone who has the opposite reaction to me whenever it's the topic of vaccines.
I was in a train in Barcelona a few weeks ago, and I overheard a conversation between a couple of Americans: both were strangers to each other, but they happened to start chatting with each other while on the train. One was from New York City, and the other was from Miami. They were talking about their travels, and how it was disrupted by Covid, and that's where the vaccine topic came. The one from New York City was so averse to the idea of putting vaccines in her body, and she even made a very disgusting expression, as if she shuddered just with the idea of it. In my head, I thought, that was a shame. A major shame, to be honest.
I also know a few people personally who have resisted vaccines. And this is just something that I don't understand. I am glad that science has advanced enough that we can prevent diseases in this way, but there are still people who totally disregard that and live as if we're in the Medieval Period.
