“Awesome, you got Pfizered. How long did you have to wait?”“Yeah, nah, I’m not talking about the vax. Are you serious? I went and got some Botox jabs before it all closes down.”Go figure!This ludicrous conversation was with one of my very best friends. A university-educated, middle-class, middle-aged, white (am I allowed to say that?) mum of two.This on further exploration seems to be the pilates-sculpted butt of the problem. What is it with so many grown-ass, middle-class white women scoffing at getting the vaccine?My Facebook feed is groaning with friends, former friends, mothers of friends and friends of friends all bullishly demonising the idea of getting jabbed.Many of them have no problem getting a jab of Botox, an injectable drug made from botulinum toxin. There is even an anti-wrinkle injectable now made of pig collagen.Or others will happily go out on benders (if child-rearing allows it) and hoover up a bag of white powder containing just about every toxin under the soon-to-be-rising sun other than cocaine.But when it comes to getting a jab that could save not just their own lives, but protect the weak and vulnerable through gaining herd immunity, it’s all “we just don’t know enough” or, “um, have you, like, read the research out there?”This so-called research is usually hunted and gathered while sitting on the toilet or minding the kids as they scroll incessantly through their iPhones. Porcelain bowl research at its best.You know who they are. What started as “Do you ACTUALLY know anyone who has had Covid?” has turned into statements like “I know more people who have died of the vaccine than of Covid.”Arrant nonsense.One even echoed that Queensland hairdresser who made global headlines after not allowing vaccinated clients into her salon for fear of she wasn’t really sure what.She did mutter concern over menstrual cycles because of the “stuff that’s in” the vaccine.A Facebook friend posted she wouldn’t allow anyone into her house if they got vaccinated.It’s all so bat-soup bonkers it would be somewhat amusing, if it wasn’t so dangerous.The Covid-19 pandemic has set the stage for an explosion in vaccine disinformation that could derail attempts to reach herd immunity.Vaccines are without doubt one of the greatest achievements of modern medicine and there is hope they are the solution to the Covid-19 pandemic.But the anti-vaccination movement is on the rise, spreading online misinformation about vaccine safety.When the Australian government launched its Covid-19 vaccine information campaign, key among the primary targets were women aged 30-39 who health research found to be the most vaccine-hesitant group in the population.I’ve blocked another school friend, who inexplicably went all MAGA back in the Trumpian days (yes, she bought a cap). To be honest, she blocked me in the early days of the 2020 lockdown.Post after diabolical post, she would upload a quote, or a link to a hogwash site raving about Covid being a cover for governments to exert control over citizens.They increased, not just in volume but blind vitriol. How gargling white vinegar would keep Covid at bay, which makes Pete Evans’ heat lamp seem almost plausible.Or there were the conspiracy theory links and the blatant defiance of government restrictions.But it was a day cooped up in lockdown last year, while I was anxiously awaiting the results of health scans on my mother, when she posted that the virus was a form of population control to kill off our elderly.When I told her to keep her ill-informed trap shut and to check her facts: BLOCKETY block block!Anti-vaxxers don’t like being called out. But let’s at least try to get through to the vaccine hesitant. The yeah-nahs.Thankfully this week the social media feed is slowly filling up with more pictures of the obligatory needle-in-arm shot.Hopefully next time my friend gets her jabs to the forehead, the conversation might change to which jab – AstraZeneca or Pfizer — you had. But even with Botox, you won’t be able to hide your age with that answer.Alice Coster is a Herald Sun columnistalice.coster@news.com.au
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