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Unless the friend has training as a microbiologist or something similar their belief is inconsequential. And even then they would be in the vast minority in their field (like a geologist that believes oil doesn't come from the heat and compression of ancient organic matter).
A lot of people are afraid of new things they don't understand. The hope is that people realize that the fear is irrational and listen to experts in the relevant field.
That would be me, highly reluctant to try the new possibly risky thing until many other people have done it. But I DO realize my fear is (mostly) irrational, so after a bit I gather my courage and do the thing anyway. For covid mRNA vaccines, I skipped the first round, and watched the news carefully for word of people dropping dead. It didn't happen, so I caught the second round of vaccines in my area about a month later. I was still afraid, but considered it my civic duty to reduce the spread to the greatest degree in my ability. And since then I've got every "booster" I was eligible for. As an old person, I'm eligible among the first, lol.
I'm not convinced there aren't some under reported risks to the vaccine. But I still consider it my civic duty to help prevent the spread of something much riskier, covid.
Even if risks are under-reported (plausible, but unlikely, given the amount of scrutiny), it's definitely the case that the risks from getting COVID are still not fully understood. Long COVID is a major issue that is still under investigation. So by your own metric - "highly reluctant to try the new possibly risky thing" - the vaccine is important. Because "the new possibly risky thing" in this case is getting COVID. You definitely don't want to "try" that.
Good point about new risky thing lol! And I so firmly don't want covid that, to my knowledge I haven't had it. And I rather desperately don't want long covid. THAT concern drives me more than simple covid. I'm cautious enough that people make fun of me, but too bad.
@[email protected] @[email protected] Every time I hear someone saying people are afraid of change, I always suspect they're just butthurt because they get inordinate benefit from that change. People actually love change, and enthusiastically embrace it, when it's a change for the better. Nobody is afraid to unwrap their birthday presents! People aren't afraid of change; they're afraid of marketing bullshitting them, of charlatans with yet another form of exploitation who are all whining in chorus about how much people fear change.
So... don't worry about being reluctant to take risks, I say. It might be irrational, but it also might not be wrong. Try to do what's best for you. If vaccines are less risky than covid, then you'll fear them less than covid, assuming these vaccines even prevent covid in the first place. If I want to convince you to take a vaccine, it's on me to give you the power to determine for yourself whether I'm full of shit. Just demonizing you as a redneck luddite and blaming you for making people sick isn't going to accomplish anything.
Anyone remotely blaming me for making others sick does not know me. I took the covid vaccine the second time it came to my area, which was just a month after the first round and when it was still only being given to "high risk" people like me. I certainly don't think it keeps you from catching it entirely, any more than the flu vaccine does. But I'm wholly convinced it reduces severity. And like flu vaccines, it appears to my non-scientific observations that, as covid evolves, the vaccines may not always "catch" each iteration of covid perfectly well. People I know are, again, getting sicker when they get covid. And yeah I absolutely believe in N95 masks worn properly; despite having a job where I'm in close face-to-face quarters with my customers I've not had covid (to my knowledge).
The fact that I don't embrace change the first time it shows its face probably has more to do with being 70 years old. If what I'm doing now already works well, I'm in no hurry for change unless it's helpful.