Covid vaccination and work/school experiences

General Discussion
#1

I wanted to start this topic to ask about other people’s experience on how covid vaccinations have affected their jobs. I’m not an anti vaxxer, but I don’t want to take the covid vaccine for various reasons. Mostly, I’m not confident that enough testing and research has been done so I would rather wait until the results are more clear.

My company CEO has been making an aggressive push to get employees vaccinated and are going to great lengths like providing covid vaccines and bringing in “specialists” to talk about why we need to be get vaccinated. The things that made me uncomfortable about this are:

a) My manager alluded to the fact that I might lose my job if I don’t get the covid vaccine. She didn’t say it outright, but she basically said, “you’re aware that there might be consequences, right?”

b) They made employees who hadn’t gotten fully vaccinated yet attend a mandatory company-wide meeting to listen to “specialists” talk about different aspects of the covid vaccine. We were required to register for the meeting.

What really didn’t set well with me in the meeting was that some of the specialists were making political and even religious arguments that were pro covid vaccine. They specifically called out conservatives and libertarians and also were saying how “no religion ever says don’t take a vaccine” and that, conversely, “taking the vaccine is in line with religious principles like treating others right”.

First of all, bullshit. Who the hell are you and what makes you certified to make such broad statements? Second, this felt wildly inappropriate to talk about at work let alone a company-wide meeting. The CEO has been doing other things like offering prizes and money for people getting fully vaccinated, providing lists of universities that require full vaccination, and in general just being really active in making sure people get the covid vaccine which all just felt really really odd.

I think the most a work place should do is determine their return-to-office plan and let their employees know what those plans are. Maybe provide some resources for those that are interested in getting the covid vaccine but leaving it up to the individual to make that decision.

This has been my experience, but I wanted to see what other experiences people have had regarding the covid vaccines affecting their jobs, school or even other areas of their life.

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#2

I think that people shouldn’t get rewarded with prices when they get a vaccine. next year we gotta need another shot of the vaccine, what will the price then? something bigger?

My country Netherlands.
Many people are getting the vaccine, we just do or we don’t. I don’t know about work or school restrictions. But people here have very much difficulties with wearing a mask. Lot’s of things are open now, but restaurant and bar owners don’t wear a mask at all, while bringing food and drinks to their customers…

However the people at my work place… two don’t get the vaccine at least and nobody cares to wear a mask. The room has no ventilation and also I cannot disinfect my hands or whatever. So feels just horrible. Wonder over wonder… nobody was sick because of Corona (or at least no heavy symptoms)

For myself, I wouldn’t mind if there would be any restrictions for those who don’t want to get vaccinated. Because corona isn’t fake it’s a true sickness and you simply shouldn’t put others in danger. If you wanna put yourself in danger, sure that’s your own choice, but there are also other people around you who you should protect.

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#3

If your CEO makes that type of broad statements, adding political and religious beliefs into company policy then you pretty much have a failed work culture. The intent is good but quite inappropriate in how it is being pushed.

In terms of vaccinations, it does work. I was sceptical as well due to how fast it was made but then again it was 2020 and made by a european team so I have less worry about false test methods. Plus when the pressure is on, I don’t doubt the brilliancy of the scientific community.

My province were at 1000 cases daily just a month a go and now we are less than 200 and still declining. ATM we are only like 70% vaccinated. Imagine if it were 95% cases would basically be gone.

My company is planning to get people back to the office but for a different more retarded reason. The company recently sent a survey asking people how they feel about workplace environment, if they feel part of the team, appreciated stuff like that. The results were below expectation so management thinks it is because people are working from home and don’t interact much with each other. It is bullshit. They would get the same results even before the WFH started. The most likely explanation is that they do straight up don’t feel appreciated. Just 2 weeks before the survey, a town hall was called praising the team for the last year and telling them how much they appreciate them. A week later promotional cycles occurred and only those that got promoted got raises, everybody else didn’t get anything. Last years annual raises never occured but we were still working full time so it was basically a slap to the face to everybody else not promoted. So now they want use back on the office. Even our CEO who was great during the pandemic has a very weak argument to bringing people back, he thinks it helps productivity but if anything we proved we can be just as productive without being in the office all the time. Corporate workplace can suck.

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#4

I just wanted to chime in as I am a staunch supporter of personal freedom and empathize with this being a difficult scenario.

There are currently active lawsuits being filed by people who were fired for refusing to take it, so I believe many employers are currently waiting to see the result of these cases before they make a move…

Props to you for standing up for yourself in an uncomfortable situation.

#5

To vaccine or not to vaccine?

In egypt it is pretty much open if you vaccine or not. I don’t know about work or schools. Schools are for the last 2 weeks back to online school. (online school is driving me nuts)
Then again. When my kids was ill the school asked if its covid, we simply said, “no it isnt”. They never demanded a test. :woman_shrugging:

#6

@ghost

pfizer has legal immunity for covid vaccine in the US until 2024, there’re instances of perfectly healthy young people developing lethal trombosis following astrazeneca shot.

I’m not sure your management will listen to that, the problem is covid will be evolving as time goes on. that’s a shit ton of potential rounds of vaccines, each one of them doing a toll on the immune system.

there is no data on long-term safety of the current vaccination options and it will not emerge for the next several years, and there’re already attempts from (at least) pfizer to suppress publicity on the people who developed complications following their immunization + pfizer ceo taking 4 months to get a shot himself (with news of him actually getting it only surfacing after Israel denied him a business entry.)

if you are otherwise healthy, I would weigh down the pros and cons of this tbh.

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#7

I am working in machining industry, we have to wear masks, but nobody does. Only when we are walking through administration building, we put them on. It would be difficult for us to work with masks on. Sometimes you get covered in oil or coolant fluids or other funny stuff and you would have to change the masks like every hour.
We undergo mandatory testing every week. At work there is no push to get vaccinated whatsoever.
For things like going to hairdresser or going to restaurant/pub, you need to have negative test max. week old or you have to be vaccinated.
Funny thing is, registration for vaccination is age restricted. I can’t even get vaccinated because I’m 23
and right now they register only 30+. And for testing you have to pay yourself, I think it is around 50 bucks if I convert it from CZK. The tests are valid for only a week.

#8

There is no money that could get me vaccinated.

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#9

Exactly. Something feels off to me if companies are having to bribe their employees to do something. It should be a choice and they should just have precautions around people who decide not to get vaccinated.

It seems like it’s a bit more relaxed in Netherlands. I’m in the US and in my city stores are still requiring people to mask up or no entry.

#10

Exactly how I feel. I mean, in general there are problems with the work culture here, but especially in terms of how they’re handling the vaccination mandate, it’s leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

Interesting. Maybe the situation is a bit different in Europe. As far as the US goes, I’m still skeptical of the claims that there are absolutely no issues. As @nekkichi has written, I’ve been hearing cases of people getting various side effects varying from blood clots to swelling and skin issues. Not to mention, there’s no account for long term effects.

There’s a lot of noise and extreme claims on both sides of the argument, but that’s all the more reason I want to wait until there are actual studies and results over a period of years.

Wow, that sucks. To quote Dwight Schrute, “Yes! AHH! The least you could do is keep my salary consistent with inflation, WAKAH! Yes!” The productivity argument is the weakest case companies can make. Going into the office everyday won’t increase productivity. Sometimes it’s more distracting at work talking to people in passing or hearing people have conversations nearby.

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#11

Hell yeah, freedom. I hope those lawsuits lean in favor of the individuals. Employers who fired people for not getting the vaccine deserve backlash. If a company has the means to allow its employees to work remotely I don’t think they should be allowed to make getting vaccinated mandatory.

Forgot to mention, they said they’re now only hiring people who’ve gotten vaccinated.

#12

That must be rough for parents (and the kids)! I can’t imagine just how unengaging having every class online must be. Really not great for social interactions or making friends.

#13

Yeah, I’ve heard of people experiencing side effects. I believe the J&J vaccine was also reported causing blood clots. Pfizer getting immunity is scary news. I think that says it all in just how safe these vaccines are. And yet, people are lining to get their dose.

Ironically, the article you linked to puts this video link directly below the headline:

2021-06-03 at 5.59 PM
2021-06-03 at 5.59 PM1100×615 518 KB

Yeah no, they’ve made up their mind. They can either change their policy or fire me. That’s exactly why I’m holding off. There’s no data to back up the claims. And you’re right, vaccines usually take years to develop and test. They absolutely did not have enough time to run proper tests in the 6 or whatever months it took them to push these experimental shots out.

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#14

That’s much stricter than here in the US. You guys need a negative test to even get a haircut? That’s crazy. $50? oof. It’s basically a toll to just go outside every week.

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#15

Hear hear. Your health is worth much more than $100.

#16

I have to wait till who knows when to get vaccinated. Here in Mexico the government gives the supplies and it goes by ages, first the Elderly, then 59-50, and now they’re starting to vaccinate people between 49-40. I’m 20 sooooo yeah I’m months away from even considering to take it or not. I will do it tho, I want to go back at school at least to graduate ;-;. We have been with online classes since the beginning.
My parents did have their first shot and appart from feeling week the first day everything went fine.

What’s sad it’s that the vaccination process slowed down mostly cuz there’s elections this year and all the money went to the campaigns, here they’re financed with public money

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#17

The tests we have to undergo at work are free, but if you want to be tested on your own behalf, you pay.
Test from work is valid for two days afterwards, but the thing is that nobody has to accept it. Officialy, services should accept tests only from registered testing places, like hospitals. Because some companies will give testing certificate without testing anyone, our does it too. We get tested on Thursdays, but if you ask they will give you certificate without testing even on days before Thursday.
But you have only three days before the validity expires and often you can’t exactly pick a date for your appointment.
It doesn’t affect me that much, because I’m not much of a social person, which is sad, but at least I get to save money.

#18

In my job they’re pushing people who are at higher risk groups to go back to working locally now that they’ve taken the first Astrazeneca vaccine (yes only 1 :slight_smile: ). I’m not one of them (I’ve been working locally since May/2020 although some days I work from home) but I’m not excited at all so I took my break now. This should go very wrong - this means a lot more people using public transportation, and not wearing masks because they think it’s ok now and for the kind of job I do it also means crowded office rooms, crowded lunch room, more people meeting clients in person etc. And many people aren’t being very careful, not to say most aren’t being careful AT ALL.

Gonna be honest and say that being faced with my ugly truth I think people who claim to be “anti vax” or whatever are just plain stupid. Where I live people have been mass traveling to other countries just to get the vaccine so yeah I think it’s pretty damn… spoiled. This is what I’m talking about every single time I say (or don’t because I don’t want to pick a fight but I think) wow those people living in developed countries have No Fucking Idea honestly. Seriously.

Having said this… I have constant nightmares where I end up forgetting there’s a pandemic going on because most people here don’t really care and I go outside without a mask and I spend the whole dream trying to find a drugstore to purchase an adequate PFF/N95 mask not even kidding.

What can I say? I was mysophobic as a child (meaning I washed my hands 50 times a day for no reason besides “my brain ordered me to”) I have a shitty immunological system and breakdowns due to anxiety, I have a single kidney, my grandma (who was basically my mom nowadays) passed away last July and I work at a high risk job for the government so I had, have, and will keep having every single fucking reason to be more pissed off than most at how lots of people don’t give a shit to PEOPLE LIKE ME. And by not giving a shit they’re spreading the disgrace. So. yeah.

Meanwhile I studied epidemiology and basic parasitology / infectology (in a top 1k university which is a Good Enough feat for someone like me) and I’m freaking out but nobody will listen to a poor weeaboo right? But like, I can tell you for sure that thrombosis 1) can easily be lethal, yes but 2) it’s an issue caused BY COVID ITSELF so if you’re not immunized you can die from it too (source: scholar) - but of course if you think you can go outside and not get it, by all means do it. Or if you can lock yourself up and not be exposed that’s even better. But honestly? damn I can’t.

tl;dr: humankind has been leaving me in despair for the past 27 years but 2020/2021 is a WHOLE other level dammit

much needed edit - this was really just /venting and not directed at anyone in particular. But this past year I’ve had so many thoughts… bubbling inside and I can’t talk to anyone SERIOUSLY about BIOLOGY because people are so damn stupid they don’t CARE. I managed to convince my father due to all of this cursed history, but most people can’t talk about the fucking virus and not talk about politics or economics or how not fun it is to be locked inside (newsflash: I spent my childhood and teenage years locked inside simply because I live in a brazilian suburb and it was dangerous outside so I have zero sympathy). If we cared about it we’d have been freed by now lol

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#19

International in Netherlands here.
Welp, our uni decided to have y2 students finish the year online, and only have coachings at campus (if you want to). However, since half of our class/classes are staying in their home countries, we just continue doing full-blown online studies.
Now, I also work as a delivery driver… and I don’t wear the mask. Mostly because having a sandwich of full-face helmet, glasses and mask will make me blind on the road. So, I prefer not to take off my helmet during whole shift.
Gonna take vaccine, but mostly because I have a trip planned in 1.5 months and don’t want to spend 7/10 days isolating in there.

#20

I’m going to see how it all plays out. I know in Finland there will never be any restrictions towards unvaccinated people, just because of how the constitution works (they can’t even technically ask you to provide a negative test when entering the country if you are a citizen etc.) I like to move around though, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the requirement of either a negative test or vaccination for crossing the border will be required and never goes away. My own personal conspiracy theory is that this will be kept even after the pandemic just to bring back internal border checks within the Schengen.

I’ve had worse hangovers than what corona was, so as far as my personal health it doesn’t concern me even if I get it every other week. I was also quite horrified when all those old people dropped dead after their vaccinations in Norway or smth, our media basically went like “oops shit happens u know the were old so who really even cares right?” I’m just going to sit this one out for now, and life truly becomes a pain in the ass without the vaccine, then I’ll eventually get it.

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