- Marie-Hélène Desmarais is afraid of the coronavirus vaccine, despite She knows the facts.
- Encouraged by friends and family, she received her first dose of Pfizer on Saturday.
- Desmarais said that people should not let fear hinder their protection from Covid-19.
- For more stories, please visit www.BusinessInsider.co.za.
Last week, Marie-Hélène Desmarais sat down in the chair of her local vaccine clinic in Montreal, Canada. But she ran away a few seconds before the injection.
It is not the needles that scares her, but some unforeseen safety issues that scientists have not yet realized. It took her more than a month to pluck up the courage to go to the clinic.
“At first I just drove past the clinic to see what it looked like, but I wouldn’t stop,” Desmarais, 47, who runs a printing company, told Insider. “My fear is so great. Then next time I will drive by and sit in the parking lot.”
Sometimes she vomited because of nervousness.
Desmarais knows the statistics: vaccines are safe and effective, and any rare adverse reactions usually appear immediately, so long-term side effects are unlikely. Of course, compared with vaccines, the possibility of getting serious illness and long-term consequences of Covid-19 is much higher. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, these vaccines reduce the risk of hospitalization and death by 25 times.
Desmarais said that she tried not to conduct anti-vaccine propaganda online, but strictly focused on clinical research. She said that her last vaccination experience—a hepatitis vaccination as a teenager—was going well.
But, as Desmarais said, “Fear really doesn’t make much sense.”
She fears that, without scientific basis, the newly approved vaccine will somehow stay in her body or enter her brain. (Actually, the mRNA in the coronavirus vaccine will degrade within a few days, and the vaccine will stay near the injection site—in this case, the muscle.)
“I was very angry with myself. I said,’Why can’t I do this? Even kids do it. What is my problem? Why can’t I be part of the solution?'” Des Marais told Insider. “Actually, it is really difficult for me. I did fall into depression and self-hatred because I absolutely wanted to get this vaccine, but I just couldn’t.”
The community needs to convince Desmarais that she can do it. Her mother-in-law studied Desmarais’ method of vaccinating at home (only people with limited mobility can choose). Her mother begged her to consider the risk of infection.
“My mother would say,’I don’t want to lose my baby because she is afraid of vaccinations,'” Des Marais said.
Last Saturday, Desmare seemed to be doing magic when he saw a mobile vaccination clinic parked in the park opposite her home.
“I thought,’Gosh. This is my opportunity,'” she said.
A friend offered to register for Desmarais at the clinic and waited there until Desmarais felt comfortable enough to show up. In the afternoon, Desmarais took her husband, daughter and dog across the street. In her pocket, she hid a piece of paper with the information she collected about the vaccine.
Marie-He´le`ne Desmarais
“If I had a panic attack from all these negative thoughts, I would be able to take out the newspaper and start reading the facts-not what I wanted to say,” she said.
A nurse gave Pfizer a quick injection, and then sat on her porch with Desmare for the next 15 minutes. Desmarais said that when she looked at her husband, daughter and friends, they seemed to have tears in their eyes.
“I stood up and said,’You just vaccinated the most feared person in Quebec,'” Des Marais said.
“You call them anti-vaccine people-I believe many of them are just afraid”
Eight months after the coronavirus vaccine was opened to the public, vaccination rates in countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States have fallen from their highest levels. But the daily vaccination rate in the United States has risen by 21% in the past two weeks, and over time, vaccine hesitancy rates in all three countries have fallen.
When the Environmental Research Institute asked Canadians in February Is it possible for them to be vaccinated, 75% of respondents said that they “definitely or likely” will get an opportunity. By June, 82% of people said they had been vaccinated, or “definitely or likely” would be vaccinated.
In the United States in February, 55% of adults said they had been vaccinated or would be vaccinated as soon as possible. Caesars Family Foundation Poll. By July, This number has risen To 69%. People who have not been vaccinated are more likely to believe that the vaccine poses a greater risk to their health than Covid-19.
She said that Desmarais believes that the key to overcoming vaccine hesitation is threefold: have the courage to admit your fears, be with people who can help you overcome them, and remind yourself of the facts.
Desmarais said: “I have to think hard in my mind and try to rationalize the truth, instead of standing on the side where I am shocked, if I have many people who say,’No, we are not vaccinated,’ I might follow them because it will be easier for me.”
However, recently, she established contact on Facebook with several people who were hesitant about the vaccine, and they said they might be willing to receive Covid-19 injections. Desmarais offered to talk to them over the phone during their processing.
“You call them anti-vaccine people-I believe many of them are just scared,” she said. “For them, anti-vaccination is easier than saying to people,’Listen, I’m a 6-foot-3 bodybuilder, or I’m a dad, and I can’t get vaccinated because I worry about it.'”
For Desmarais at least, anticipation is the hardest part, not a side effect. She said that after the first injection, she only felt a slight pain in her arm, and planned to give another injection in a few weeks-even if it would take multiple attempts to muster the courage.
“Even if I have to do it 20 more times to get the second dose, I will do it,” she said.
