As we have stated before, we are generally pro-vaxers (see: Vaccinations), except when it comes to some COVID-19 vaccines, namely the Pfizer and Moderna, but not the Janssen and Novavax (see: COVID Vaccines: An Existential Threat.)
The decision to get a vaccine is a matter of a risks/benefits analysis. In other words, are the benefits more significant than the risks?
Let’s take, as an example, the Rabies vaccination. If you catch Rabies, the incidence of death is near 100% by the time you have symptoms and you are diagnosed. If you are like us here, live outside of cities, hunt for food, and are otherwise exposed to wildlife, you run the significant risk of being exposed to a rabid animal, and thus the disease. So, the vaccines has major benefits. Of course, as with any vaccine, it also has some risks, but they are well known as the vaccine has been around for over 100 years (since 1885). The adverse effects are also rare and tend to be mild. In the case of the Rabies vaccines, therefore, in our specific context, the benefits far outweigh the risks. Hence why every man here is required to be vaccinated against Rabies.
Now, let’s look at one of the COVID-19 vaccines. If you catch COVID-19, unless you are elderly and with comorbidity conditions, your chance of survival with no significant long-term effects is nearly 100%. As a matter of fact, the death rate is only 0.3%, which involves primarily older people with existing conditions. As for your risk of catching COVID-19, it is also pretty low, unless you are an exposed category, with no evidence asymptomatic transmission is prevalent or even possible. So, in this case, the COVID-19 vaccine would not necessarily have any benefits and would not necessarily be needed. Some COVID vaccines, namely the Pfizer and Moderna, also have risks that are higher than most other vaccines. In part, because these vaccines were approved faster than any other vaccine in history, and also because they use mRNA technology, which not only is not proven, but never succeeded in previous vaccine attempts due to resulting adverse events. In the case of the COVID-19 vaccines, the risks may therefore outweigh the benefits, depending on your choice of vaccine. Hence why COVID vaccination for our personnel is to be voluntary, and only to involve the Janssen and Novavax vaccines (we expect the first doses at the beginning of Match 2021).
Getting a vaccine, as with most decisions in life, is indeed a matter of risks/benefits analysis.