I’m hella scared of needles. Which makes me even cooler and braver for still getting vaccinated

My mum's antivax because of the covid vaccine scare, and she's slowly becoming more anti medicine. She's recommended my sister to go off her meds more than once, which I don't think I need to tell you guys is a bad idea

That's one potential motivation. There are many others.

I absolutely fucking hate needles and I still get vaccinated because it's the right thing to do and ultimately it just kind of pinches for a second? I tell you what though I live in dread of being hospitalized because I just know for a fact that I would fucking hate having an IV in me and not being able to like mess with it or take it out. Absolutely hate the idea of that so much.

Most people stop learning when things get slightly difficult, which happens somewhere around 10-12 years old. That's as far as most people get, and they remain roughly at that level for the rest of their lives. When considered in this way, many things about society and irrational beliefs make more sense.

There are probably some, but the only anti vax person I personally know is cool with acupuncture. It’s not fear of needles, it’s lack of fear of how horrific these diseases are. They also were a covid denier, so that also says a lot.

I just think idiots in more developed countries have lost respect for the diseases that used to ravage the population. Smallpox, measles, and polio happened before their time and they assume their deadliness was overstated. In an attempt to look smart and persecuted they became vocal supporters of the antivax movement. I'll admit there are probably a few of people who are afraid of needles to be in the antivaxer's ranks though.

The phenomenon doesn't seem too different from flat earthers who refuse to acknowledge objective evidence that runs counter to their beliefs and double down whenever they're forced to see the truth.

Nope. We have aerosol mist flu vaccines and they won't take them either.

If this were true, then we'd expect to see similar levels of antivax around the world, remaining at a constant rate. Let's look at some actual numbers.

A world survey of the question, "Do you agree that vaccines are important for children to have?" found 97% agreement in Somalia, where the effects of vaccination are more observable, and only 68% agreement in France, which has had them long enough to take them for granted. In Asia, we see 95% in China, 93% in Vietnam, 96% in the Philippines and Cambodia, compared to 62% in South Korea and only 48% in Japan (down from 82% in 2015). 92% in Mexico compared to 79% in the US (which was 87% in 2015)

What's going on here? Did 34% of Japanese people suddenly develop a fear of needles in the span of 10 years? In the Philippines, 100% of people agreed with that statement in 2015, which dipped all the way down to 68% in 2021, before recovering to 96% today! Weird that that phobia of needles spontaneously appeared out of nowhere, and everyone got over it just as suddenly.

Or, maybe it's not really about a fear of needles at all. Maybe that has more to do with the fact that the US actively spread vaccine misinformation in the Philippines to get people to distrust China's COVID vaccine. And if we can directly observe antivax attitudes generating in response to a targeted misinformation campaign, then maybe this whole thing has more to do with the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories, rather than some innate phobia.

The current US administration is vaccine skeptical. It's not a fringe view anymore.

my friends didn't get vax because he is afraid of needles , says it hurts it doesn't have to be more complicated than the truth

Nonsense. I'm a huge needle-weenie and I'm properly vaxed.

I tried to get over my fear of needles by getting a tattoo. It only kinda worked. Tattoo artist said that my face went so white they thought I would pass out.

Fully vaxxed though.

i mean i have a fear of needles so i look the other way while it happens. i have never felt the need to be like "welp now i hate science".