I am currently overseas with my family on a new work assignment. My wife and I had no intentions of receiving any covid vaccines any time soon, but recently the country in which we reside will begin essentially mandating them within a few months. So now we are stuck in a position where we either take the vaccines or go back home to the US. I want to have enough confidence to be able to take it, but as of now I'm not there yet. I would love to hear from those who are more knowledgeable than me.

- Is there any reason to believe that the AstraZeneca (which I have access to where I am) or J&J, which both supposedly use the viral vectors with DNA as opposed to the lipid with mRNA is safer? Since data is sparse, is there any mechanistic explanation or evidence? There is a blood clot issue I read about regarding the J&J and AZ vaccines, but elsewhere I read that the data actually show a similar # of clot cases with the mRNA vaccines.

- One of my biggest concerns has to do with my wife and the theory of female sterility from the vaccine. The theory is that since the spike protein that the vaccine tells your cells to make is very similar in structure to the Syncytin-1 protein, which plays a role in placentation. The body could create immunity to this similar protein and create fertility issues in women. I can google this theory and the best I ever get is that "there is no evidence to suggest that there is a link between sterility and the covid vaccine" which isn't very helpful considering there is so little data on the vaccine in the first place, we wouldn't know one way or another. Any thoughts on this? Is there anyone out there who actually understands the two protein structures and if they are similar enough that the body would or could do what this theory says?

- There is apparently over 50,000 covid vaccine injuries to date reported to the US Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, most of them from the mRNA vaccines. The reports range from death to mild injuries, although there aren't any more details. Has anyone read more about the injuries? Any insight? Although still low percentages, this is still a concern.


Thanks in advance. Like I said, I want to get to a confidence level where I am willing to take the vaccine. But the general theme is that there isn't enough data to answer a lot of my questions, which is the root of the issue. But I am a mechanism guy, so if someone can offer mechanistic explanations, that still helps.

I'm just an engineer but I've read up quite a bit on the data,
and to me the most telling is my pediatrician buddy who started his career in neuro research before transferring to clinical medicine has gotten his family vaccinated including a school age daughter. Nobody studies things more than this guy. Basically, he is not happy about the lack of long term data in making the decision but told me he would like his family to be alive to find out.

Sorry I don't have data to post while casually on the phone, but this is a strong recommendation from a PhD clinician.

The fertility myth has been addressed over and over - both here and if you do a Google search. Basically, in the world of proteins, the two are nothing alike, and our bodies are capable of distinguishing between them (as well as dozens of other proteins that the uninformed might think are "similar").

As far as the VAERS reports are concerned, this database is kind of like the "did someone die of Covid or with Covid" issue.

Doctors are required to report any adverse reaction (including a sore arm) after vaccination. And the database is accessible to anyone - meaning anyone can file a report.

This is all very clearly spelled out on the VAERS reporting website.

The FDA and medical professionals are following up on all these reports, but common sense tells you that most of them are not going to be related to the vaccine, particularly the deaths. People die all the time. Just because someone died after getting the vaccine doesn't mean that the vaccine caused the death - particularly if that person was old or had other medical conditions.

There are known side effects of the vaccine. Just like any vaccine that triggers your immune system, you may experience fever, chills, fatigue, muscle soreness, etc. And just with any other vaccine, some people may have an over-response that causes more serious complications. But the risks for this happening are also low.

borski99 said:

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I'm just an engineer but I've read up quite a bit on the data,
and to me the most telling is my pediatrician buddy who started his career in neuro research before transferring to clinical medicine has gotten his family vaccinated including a school age daughter. Nobody studies things more than this guy. Basically, he is not happy about the lack of long term data in making the decision but told me he would like his family to be alive to find out.

Sorry I don't have data to post while casually on the phone, but this is a strong recommendation from a PhD clinician.

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That's valuable to know. The only thing that still gets me with regard to his sentiment is that don't I as a 30 something year old have something like a 99.97% chance of survival based on the statistics so far. So the risk equation in my mind is the unknown risk of the vaccine due to lack of data vs. the known risk of the virus. In any case, thanks for the comment.

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The only thing that still gets me with regard to his sentiment is that don't I as a 30 something year old have something like a 99.97% chance of survival based on the statistics so far.

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Are you considering at all bad consequences from Covid other than actual death?

Jabin said:

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The only thing that still gets me with regard to his sentiment is that don't I as a 30 something year old have something like a 99.97% chance of survival based on the statistics so far.

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Are you considering at all bad consequences from Covid other than actual death?

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No I wasn't considering it.

Many doctors on this board have underlined the morbidity issues of "surviving" a COVID illness. I have not seen any studies, so mostly anecdotal but compelling. As a relatively young person, I would take a long look at those anecdotes.

I am a little older and more of a target for this one, but I have a hard time considering the decision to take this vaccine any different than any of the other vaccines that I have taken in my life. We are blessed to live in a world with medical alternatives.

It is your choice, make a wise one for you and your wife.

So if you can't find facts to substantiate a non issue with future fertility, I am more sure you can not find them to substantiate an issue as one does not exist except on Facebook/rumor.

The real risks you face in everyday life are more significant than the theoretical ones you pose. You can always worry about the unknown when assessing any risk/reward situation. I am a physician and feel very comfortable with me, my wife, and kids all getting the vaccine.

Many women got pregnant in the middle of the clinical trials where they were explicitly asked not to (for the purposes of the trial).... The idea that the vaccine sterilizes women is just so far beyond the realm of reality that I'm not even sure what to say other than the basis for your fears is from a place of information bias. There's plenty of great information with clinical trial data on the CDC website and even youtube has the emergency use authorization information in 8 hour videos with a full panel of experts from the FDA and companies in question filled with every possible detail about the vaccine from all perspectives. Long story short the vaccines are incredibly safe (100s of millions of people globally have received the vaccines with very minimal side effects) and effective (just look at Israel's daily covid cases 7-day avg. at ~30 per day - very much in-line with the data collected).

There's "unknown" risk and there's imagined risk. At this point the biggest "unknown" risks people have are driven by imagination more than they are founded in what has been physically observed or physically possible. The mechanism for how vaccines work means that long term side effects are exceptionally unlikely. The actual injected material for the mRNA vaccines, for example, only last a couple of hours before your body has eliminated it. It doesn't impact your DNA in any way. All that happens is the spike protein from the virus is introduced into your body, your body mounts an immune response and wipes it out. That's it, all that remains is your immunity to that spike protein unique to COVID-19. Maybe I'll grow a 3rd arm, I mean that's an unknown risk... But how would that even happen? And who's to say COVID (which floods your cells with mRNA) isn't more of a risk to make myself grow a 3rd arm than the vaccine at some point in the future. Needless to say, the risk that I might get a 3rd arm from the vaccine or from COVID is probably more in the imagined risk than the unknown risk category.

The data is abundantly clear, the vaccines are safe and effective... Much safer than COVID by every concievable measure. If I had a choice in vaccines I would want Moderna and Pfizer above the rest. J&J would be a clear 3rd, but I would absolutely take the Astrazeneca if that's all I had access to.

I am someone who has been hesitant to get the vaccine. After seeing what this has done to a loved one, a healthy 50-something who is carrying a bit of extra weight and has high blood pressure but is otherwise healthy, I would recommend that you take the vaccine if you are over the age of 40.

What is the worst case long term scenario with the vaccine or mRNA technology? Can this vaccine protect against future corona viruses that may be more deadly?