Hot Button Topic DON'T turn it political!!! Vaccine Mandate

[Korab]

Unvaccinated people are roughly 40x times more likely to be hospitalized.

They are more than 20x more likely to die.

Vaccinated people have roughly a 1 in 25,000 chance of suffering a serious breakthrough infection.

The Covid case fatality rate in the US remains at about 0.017.

The absolute worst case vaccine fatality rate is 0.000019. That number assumes that every death reported in VAERS was actually caused by the vaccine. The actual number is likely several orders of magnitude lower.

Those numbers definitely validate my decision to get jabbed.

It's basically the biggest no-brainer in the history of mankind

One problem in analyzing risk is that the numbers you site are completely unreliable. We have no idea how many people get the virus and never have symptoms or have symptoms that are so mild they never get tested, and so are excluded from the data set. And the risk an individual faces is more dependent on their comorbidities than the disease itself.

 

[Korab]

"Vast majority of the public" doesn't mean anything to those at risk. If I were at an risk person for developing severe symptoms from COVID, I would not be comfortable with a bunch people in public walking around unvaccinated. Also, there is quite a bit of people in our nation that are at risk. I know a few Marines and sailors my age who developed serious symptoms from COVID and they were all healthy before. A few of them still have problems post COVID and have problems running a mile when before they were just fine. Those few would disagree with the statements above downplaying the Virus. It is easy to smeer at something or somebody when you haven't experienced it yourself personally.

Your right, the vaccine won't guarantee immunity, just reduces the risk of contracting it and suffering severe symptoms greatly. As I mentioned earlier, nothing in life is guaranteed. If there were guarantees in life, it would be easy to make hard choices.

The same can be said of the flu, and the common cold, and other omnipresent diseases that we deal with every year without destroying our economy. And simply reducing our symptoms when we catch the virus is not the bill of goods we were sold when the vaccine was developed. The narrative changes as frequently as the virus itself. Now we find out those vaccinated still catch and spread the virus, and we are told to go back to wearing masks and shut the heck up. Oh, and now you need a new booster shot. Some of us are fed up with the politicization of a virus developed in a Chinese lab and released on the world, and the shutting down of free speech that questions the official narrative. I’ve had the shot because I felt like I needed it to continue doing the things I need to do in life, but I don’t like it. I don’t like the government telling me what I need to do. I feel sorry for those women just entering or still in their child bearing years - they are facing an impossible choice. We won’t know the full consequence of these vaccines for decades.

 

[usafcellist2026]

I am glad you are looking out for your personal health but you have to ask yourself this, what if your backup plans require the Vaccine? Are you going to have more backup plans then? I am not really in favor of mandating the vaccine for everyone but you need to look at big picture here. The chances of you suffering a severe reaction to the vaccine are very low, that being said nothing in life is guaranteed. I am sure you as you move on in life, you will find yourself asking the same question about whether or not I should take the risks.

I am looking at the big picture. After seeing what happened with my mom I refuse to get the vaccine, or at least delay for as long as possible. As for my backup plans, I'll figure it out when the time comes.

 

[Humey]

Come on, I realize statistics can be modified to almost prove anything you want. The truth is that the majority of those in hospitals don't have vaccinations and the majority who die from Covid also don't have the vaccination. The problem with the vaccination is that it was created based on the original forms of Covid. Covid has changed and mutated as more and more people have it. The truth is that if India had been vaccinated properly, the Delta variation would never have developed. Those today who are infected and vaccinated resulted from the vaccine no longer being a 100% firewall against the altered virus. The vaccine has done very well against the original strain along with the English strain that hit the US along with all of the other variations. What it does seem to have a problem with is the new delta version. And why do these new variations pop up, because the virus changes as it hit more and more people. The way to deal with this is to not allow the virus to mutate in people. And how do we do this, with the vaccination.. Now, i agree the government shouldn't be able to tell you what to do. I have always believed people have the right to do whatever they want, regardless if it's stupid or not. You don't want to vaccinate your kid, that is perfectly okay with me. However, the school has the right to say, no school without vaccination. So if a private business or a government agency decides that it doesn't want non vaccinated people entering their locations, that is also their right.

 

[Anguswarrior112]

I am looking at the big picture. After seeing what happened with my mom I refuse to get the vaccine, or at least delay for as long as possible. As for my backup plans, I'll figure it out when the time comes.

That's an understandable concern, I do not want to dissuade you from your beliefs or concerns nor invalidate your experience. Again, despite the risks, I really do believe the pros outweigh the cons and that being vaccinated can protect others. I also hope this vaccine does not stop you from serving this country.


You more than likely will have to make similar choices and face challenges similar to this one in the future, they may come at inconvenient times and in bad situations especially in the military. Hopefully this one can help you learn.

 

[usafcellist2026]

How many cadets got covid since it started? How many were hospitalized? How many died? How many under 22 year olds died in America from Covid? Isn’t the biggest problem obesity, which isn’t a large sample at SAs?

To tag along with that, most of the people who suffer severe reactions from COVID are obese, since they most likely have or are at risk for diabetes. There's those with asthma as well, and there is few with it at an SA.

 

[MCA]

As of June 15, 2021, 93% of the COVID cases at USAFA have been people who were unvaccinated. Leadership is taking COVID serious because they don't want to shut down the school again. Mandatory vaccination is imminent military members that are not vaccinated, should get vaccinated on their own accord before the military forces them to. If cases continue to rise at USAFA, it could restrict unvaccinated cadets to campus and college athletes who are not vaccinated would not be able to travel to compete.

It is logic and common sense that the vaccine works. Yes, there are breakthrough cases where those who have been vaccinated get COVID. But those breakthrough cases are only a small percentage of the actual vaccinated population. The probability of having a negative reaction to the vaccine is astronomically less than the probability of being unvaccinated and contracting COVID. If you think, "it's fine if I get COVID. I'm young and I can fight it off", you're wrong. There have been cadets who contracted COVID and while they fought the virus off, it still damaged their lungs and they had a hard time breathing during physical conditioning. They were medically discharged. This virus is serious and the only way to fight a virus is to get vaccinated. Do your part. Get vaccinated. As the Air Force's core value says, "Service before Self".

 

[VasilyZaytsev]

for those in the know, do the students need to get these shots before entering service academies, or is it best to let them get them at indoc? thnx

 

[Korab]

As of June 15, 2021, 93% of the COVID cases at USAFA have been people who were unvaccinated. Leadership is taking COVID serious because they don't want to shut down the school again. Mandatory vaccination is imminent military members that are not vaccinated, should get vaccinated on their own accord before the military forces them to. If cases continue to rise at USAFA, it could restrict unvaccinated cadets to campus and college athletes who are not vaccinated would not be able to travel to compete.

It is logic and common sense that the vaccine works. Yes, there are breakthrough cases where those who have been vaccinated get COVID. But those breakthrough cases are only a small percentage of the actual vaccinated population. The probability of having a negative reaction to the vaccine is astronomically less than the probability of being unvaccinated and contracting COVID. If you think, "it's fine if I get COVID. I'm young and I can fight it off", you're wrong. There have been cadets who contracted COVID and while they fought the virus off, it still damaged their lungs and they had a hard time breathing during physical conditioning. They were medically discharged. This virus is serious and the only way to fight a virus is to get vaccinated. Do your part. Get vaccinated. As the Air Force's core value says, "Service before Self".

Curious where you are getting your information since you’ve only been at USAFA for 6 weeks, particularly your claim that cadets who contracted covid have been discharged. That’s never been reported before.

 

[dddad]

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for those in the know, do the students need to get these shots before entering service academies, or is it best to let them get them at indoc? thnx

The SAs preferred that incoming MIDN and Cadets were fully vaccinated prior to arrival. For MIDN and Cadets already enrolled when the vaccine came out, the SAs rolled out vaccinations this past Spring.

 

[StPaulDad]

It takes weeks for the vaccines to be fully effective so starting earlier is better.

 

[AROTC-dad]

Remember that our primary mission is to assist officer candidates by promoting accurate information toward that goal. The Off-Topic thread is intended to promote community among those who participate in the primary mission.

Because the thread is no longer doing either of the above, we are locking it from further postings.