I spoke to my goddaughters (briefly, as it turned out) on Friday about why they wouldn't get the vaccines. I had prepared quite well thanks to the advice offered on here - more so than I do for most work presentations - but in the end it wasn't really needed. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that both parents are strongly anti-Tory and run a foodbank in their town. Well, it seems, that sentiment has passed down to the daughters and the core reason they wouldn't get the vaccine was because of the gloating by the Tories of how the vaccine rollout was going. They thought their parents had sold out by getting vaccinated.
Of all the possible reasons I had planned for that wasn't one. In hindsight it really should have been!! I tried to explain the divide between Public Health England, the NHS and the government and that the government were taking reflective glory just like they had in Euro 2020. I asked them if they'd throw a football match because the government would try to steal some glory from it and they said they wouldn't. I also said that our rollout was now pretty ordinary in European terms and that the government were no longer answering every question with a comment about vaccinations because of that. I was gearing up for a statistical breakdown of the difference two people would make to a % across 65m people but luckily for them said they'd get the vaccine if I'd stop talking
I thought I may have been fobbed off but their dad sent me a message this morning to say they've booked their first jabs so I'm well happy!
I suppose, like Brexit, there are almost endless reasons why people hold particular views. Of all the reasons for not getting jabbed a deeply held suspicion of the Tories is probably one of the better ones...