Before I begin, please believe me when I say that I take no pleasure in writing this.
Those that know me, will know that I hardly ever initiate the topic of COVID/lockdown/jabs etc. Of course, I’m happy to respond when people ask me what I think – and I have given this a lot of thought – but there are countless other things I would rather discuss. And there are countless other things I would rather be doing this Monday afternoon than writing this.
But, as society drifts further and further away from what was considered “normal” just a couple of years ago, my “normal” position is looking more and more abnormal (and even dangerous). And I am increasingly having to justify it to friends and family.
I’d also like to point out that I won’t be promoting this article or posting it on social media. In fact, I stopped using all of my personal social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) six months ago. I’m not looking for comments or shares.
This is simply here so I have something to direct people to, as and when needed. If you’re reading this, it’s likely that you’ve asked me to wear a mask, or take a test, or get jabbed, or show you my COVID pass, or whatever they happen to come up with next. I hope that reading this will help you to understand my position.
I don’t think you’re “silly”
I wanted to start by saying that, despite the fact we might disagree on almost all of this, I don’t think you’re silly for wearing a mask, or getting tested, or getting jabbed, or downloading your COVID pass, or cancelling your Christmas party.
I completely understand why you’re doing what you’re doing. You are following the prevailing government (and medical) guidance. That seems sensible enough. After all, what do we know about virology and vaccines? Not very much.
If there’s a new killer virus on the loose, and wearing a mask, getting jabbed, and taking a few tests will help to stop people from dying, then what kind of person isn’t prepared to do that?!
When you ask me to wear a mask or get a test. When you’re concerned for my health (and the health of those around me) because I haven’t been jabbed. I don’t think you’re being silly. I’m sure you’re genuinely trying to do what you think is best for everyone – myself included.
I do think you’re scared. And probably way more scared than you ought to be. But after two years of nonstop fearmongering from the government, big business, traditional media, and social media… that’s to be expected.
But fear is extremely powerful. Make someone scared enough and you can get them to do almost anything.
I just strongly disagree that insisting on masks, and tests, and jabs, and passports as conditions of entry to society is what is best for everyone. In fact, I believe it to be extremely harmful and dangerous.
I do worry that you (along with almost everyone else) have been slowly groomed/brainwashed/hypnotised over the past two years by the 24/7 fearmongering of the government, big business, traditional media, and social media. I’d love to encourage you to try a 30-day “news detox” and then see if you think, and feel, any different. As a side point, I haven’t watched the news for eight and a half years. But that’s a topic for another time.
My position
Lockdown
When the first UK lockdown was announced back in March 2020, my family and I were already in a sort of self-imposed lockdown. We’d just had our first child three weeks earlier and none of us wanted to get COVID-19 or spread it around. We’d made the decision to miss church on Sunday 15th March 2020 for those very reasons. The following Sunday, all UK churches were forced to close their doors.
A nationwide lockdown felt drastic. But we’d seen the photos in January of people dropping dead in the streets of Wuhan, and now that same virus had made its way to the UK. Far better to be safe than sorry. Plus, the lockdown in China appeared to have worked well, as they were apparently already getting back to normal.
But as time went on, and the three-week lockdown was extended, I began to change my mind.
It became apparent quite early on that, despite an obvious increase in hospitalisations and deaths, nobody was dropping dead in the street, and the average age of “COVID death” was completely in line with typical UK life expectancy (if not slightly older). Compare that to the Spanish flu (that a lot of people were talking about 18 months ago – I can only assume because it was being mentioned a lot on the news?), which caused UK life expectancy to plummet from 54 to 41 in just a few short years!
Now, of course, “Old Lives Matter”. But surely the best way to protect the elderly and the vulnerable is by coming up with something tailored and specific to them. And I don’t mean simply locking up (or down) the elderly and those in care homes if that’s not what they want. But coming up with some way to support them in whatever decision they make. After all; stress, fear, loneliness, anxiety – these are all silent killers too!
In the summer of 2020, I came across a government risk analysis of the first lockdown that estimated that Lockdown 1 alone could lead to 25,000-50,000 excess UK deaths. That’s deaths caused indirectly by the lockdown, not of (or “with”) COVID. From a host of factors such as missed diagnoses and delayed treatments to financial hardship and suicide.
It was clear fairly early on that “locking down” and other restrictions have an almost endless list of very serious consequences. But nobody seems to care.
That’s why I am now anti-lockdown. Not to mention the whole freedom and liberty angle! But we don’t seem to care much about that anymore either.
The “jabs”
I was first offered a COVID jab in May 2021. I declined the offer for three reasons;
#1: I’m not convinced they’re safe
I’m a long way from being a vaccine expert. Before all this, I don’t think I’d ever really thought about vaccines. I’d had everything I was offered and never had any problems. But these “jabs” seemed different.
- For starters, I call them “jabs” because they aren’t strictly “vaccines”. Not according to the pre-COVID definition, at least.
- Similarly, they use a completely new technology – never before authorised for use in humans (until December 2020).
- On the topic of authorisation, I believe some of the jabs now have full FDA approval (whatever that means) but, when I was offered them at least, they only had Emergency Use Authorisation. They were only authorised because we were officially in an “emergency”. Very few people I spoke to at the time were aware of that.
- They were also produced at lightning fast speed. I read something that broke down how long it usually takes for a vaccine to go from the initial stages to being putting into people’s arms. And it was 5+ years. It also said that any vaccine using a novel technology/technique would typically take twice as long.
- Add to that the fact that pretty much every pharmaceutical company in the world was in a race to make something. emergency use authorisation
- ever been able to make a vaccine for a coronavirus before.
I’m not claiming the various COVID “jabs” are unsafe. But put those six factors together and that’s more than enough to make me extremely cautious.
#2: I’m not convinced I really need it
If I thought I was in great personal danger from COVID, then I very well might decide to take a series of jabs that I wasn’t convinced were safe. The jabs would simply be the lesser of two dangers.
However, from all of the research I’ve done, it would appear that COVID presents a tiny, tiny risk to people like me (32 years old, not overweight, no health problems – or none that I’m aware of, at least). It looks rather flu-like. And I’ve never had a flu jab or worried about catching the flu.
Again, I’m not saying that the COVID jabs are unsafe or dangerous. I hope they’re not. But they might be. We can’t know for sure if there will be any unexpected long-term side effects, or what they might be. And right now, I’m more scared of the jabs than I am of the virus. If I’m a 1 out of 10 scared of COVID, I’m a 2+ out of 10 scared of the jabs.
#3: I’m not convinced that me having it has much of a net positive benefit to society as a whole
When I “went public” six months ago, this was
and that I should have my two doses (now three) to protect other more vulnerable people
Masks/tests/passports
I am strongly opposed to viewing fellow human beings as walking viruses, who need to be masked, jabbed, and then prove they’re not sick before being allowed to enter and interact with other human beings.
I don’t think this is “silly”
You may be under the impression that I think all of this is silly. And you’re kind of right. Some of this is VERY silly.
For example, it is objectively “silly” that, in November 2021, lots of churches had their congregations not wearing masks (but did insist they were worn when singing) and then, in December 2021, it flipped to making congregations wear masks at all times except when singing.
But, overall, I don’t think this is “silly” at all. I think this is all hugely important.
This is not temporary.
Back in March 2020, it was three weeks to flatten the curve. It’s now been 92 weeks! At least, I think it’s 92 weeks. I kept losing count as I was trying to add them up!
And there’s currently talk of yet another lockdown, either over Christmas or just after.
We mustn’t forget how unprecedented this all was back in March 2020.
Once a society gives up certain freedoms they don’t easily get them back
If you do what we say, you can have your freedomback and be allowed to participate in notmal society. I believe this way of thinking is slowly being accepted and even adopted by the population itself.
Conclusion
For those that appeal to me to change my mind based on the fact that I’m a Christian, I hope that my Christlikeness is clearly evident in the way that I love those who disagree with me and treat them with respect and gentleness. I’m sure I won’t always do that perfectly but I strive to follow the teaching and example of my Lord Jesus Christ who said…
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”
If you don’t want me to come to your house, or your party, or whatever, because I’m unjabbed or because I don’t want to take a test. That’s ok. I respect your decision. I won’t kick up a fuss. I’m greatly saddened that I won’t be able to
I might not have done what you wanted me to do. But I still love you. I still want to see you. There doesn’t need to be any awkwardness between us.
The natural sinful human instinct is to say, “Fine. If they don’t want to see me, then I don’t want to see them. If they want to throw nasty names at me, then I’ll happily throw some nasty names back at them.”
It’s not easy to do what I am doing. The easy thing is to just go along with everything. To “go-along-to-get-along” as some people are calling it.
Some can’t
Most won’t
I find myself in a very unique position where I am both willing and able to stick my neck out. I also honestly do not care what other people think of me. Not because I’m some sort of psychopath (because I care greatly about what God thinks of me and want to please him in everything I do). But because I’m prepared