How to talk to that family member...

People get a flu jab every year because the flu constantly mutates. If you were comfortable getting the first two then what's the issue with the booster?

The flu changes too rapidly for a consistent vaccine.

COVID 19 is a much more stable virus.

Doesn’t seem to be more stable. Either that or the vaccines don’t work. Amazing the amount of fully vaccinated people who are still getting covid ?

and yes I am vaccinated with a booster.

I wasn’t

but needed them to travel

The flu vaccine has to be tweaked each year to suit the flu strain that develops for that year.

The Covid vaccines haven't had to be tweaked for any variant yet. I guess that could be taken as more stable - the mutations have not been severe enough to require the vaccines to be changed. Of course, Covid-19 is a mere baby compared to the flu, which has been infecting people for hundreds, and possibly thousands of years.

As for the vaccine not working, well, that depends on your definition of "working". No one with any serious medical credibility ever claimed that it would fully prevent infection. Efficacy was always measured on the effect on severe illness, and by that measure, the vaccines seem to be a success. However some people's expectations of what a vaccine could do seem to have been overly optimistic. Not blaming people for that, the popular rhetoric encouraged it.

I do fully admit that it's very disappointing that it seems that their effectiveness seems to wane after 6 months or so. Getting a booster twice a year is not a sustainable solution, especially since the vaccination system that worked so efficiently for the initial shots is no longer operating that that level. I think there'll be an ok level of update on this booster campaign, but not to the same extent as the initial vaccine rollout, and it will further diminish if required again in the summer.

Well that video snapshot sure convinced me that it was going to be an impartial, scientific, peer-reviewed and insightful article.

For me, I wouldn't invite an unvaxxed person to my house. They claim it is their right (And, it is). And it is MY right not to allow anybody I don't want onto my private property. And they can scream discrimination aaaalllll they want.

And by the way am I the only person who resents being told by print media how to interact those closest to me?

Bloomberg ran a similar article, in case you need advice from the financial press on how to relate to your own family.

Perhaps the Wall Street Journal can tell you how often you should make love to your wife?

Would your family members, friends and acquaintances who you've excluded from your house "scream discrimination" though? Or would they just take it as a signal that you're cutting them out of your life?

Because it's not as if random unvaccinated strangers seek to enter your kitchen.

It's the season of goodwill, not the season of combatting misinformation.

Here is a scene of the typical Christmas 2021...

Dad: It's a pity Granny Folan couldn't make it this year.

Uncle Brian: Can somebody pass the salt?

Mollie (7): Look I drew a picture. Look! Look!

Cousin Frank: The All-Ireland is starting up in January this year.

Sile: Will you go to see Waterford play?

Cousin Frank: Yeah I'll go at least once. Against Kilkenny maybe, then Joe will come with me

Eoghan: I've just been reading the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and it's come to my attention that misinformation comes with a high cost. 800 deaths were related to just one Covid-19 prevention myth, namely the consumption of methanol as a folk remedy for coronavirus. I am both frustrated and concerned. I see such avenues of misinformation as contiguous with vaccine hesitancy.

Uncle Brian: I still need the salt...

Eoghan: It's okay Uncle Brian. If you've fallen down a Facebook conspiracy rabbit hole I can help you out of it.

Uncle Brian: ...only the soup tastes a little bland without any flavouring.

That's genuinely sad if you are estranged from family members.

...and you won't have any opportunity to combat misinformation this Christmas 😟

Maybe you could call up your absent family members and combat misinformation over the phone?

Btw a quick test can tell you whether someone has covid or not.

Ah no, I've not had anyone screaming discrimination. All my family are vaccinated. I do have one friend who is an anti-vaxxer and excluded them from our friends night out (All others agreed) and they were quite pissed. But none of us cared.

Their choice to not vax. Our choice to not invite.

Well, the main problem with, say, inviting them around is that anti-vaxxers tend to be like vegans: They have to tell you. So it WILL come up and debate/arguments will ensue. (And I don't know if Anti-vaxxers do antigen tests or if they think that's faciscm/dictatorship also)

I'm not estranged from any family members, it's a hypothetical because all my family are rational human beings.

BTW a quick test might tell you if someone has Covid or not. However, the people who believe the conspiracies are not going to be self-administering antigen tests. The same way they don't wear masks and don't obey social distancing.

People make decisions of their own free will and others will then feel certain ways about these conscious voluntary choices.

If a person decides that they choose to drink and drive then people will think about them a certain way.

If a person dedicates their life to help others and is a great and honest human being then people will think about them in a certain way.

It is a person's choice to choose whether to have the vaccine or not. Are you saying it is NOT my right to not have them around me or mine? That I should be FORCED to have them around those I wish to protect? That, by choosing to NOT have them around my family that I am wrong?

However then this card is brought out. It's prejudice. It is not. It is the consequence that someone needs to live with for making a voluntary choice. It seems that people want them to have the choice to follow their belief to not have the vaccine but not allow others to follow THEIR beliefs and avoid said people. THIS is treating people differently because of their beliefs

Yeah, I don't know. Curious to know the answer.

How to talk to "that" family member?

'I'm protecting me and mine, please don't come, thanks'.

Yeah. But that's the card that's always pulled. And it does polarize people. Which is unfortunate. But for me, I choose to believe the general scientific consensus. There are many who think me an idiot/sheep/whatever for doing so. But I choose to believe the general scientific consensus as is my right. And avoid those who choose differently. Who I believe would potentially endanger my family. As is my right.

Not to mention "Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?" and "Who ate the last "fancy" biscuit"

The irony of such a statement deserves its own thread

We're one of the dumbest in Europe unfortunately.

Our national IQ is below average.

Ive had the vaccine and the booster, but there is definitely something different aboput this one. I get the flu vaccine every year and have no effects at all. Aprt from a sore arm from the needle i wouldnt even know i had a flu vaccine. The covid vaccine is different. I definitely know ive had it for a couple of days after each shot.

Also at this point they are giving vaccines in case they work. Instead of because they work. So im not surprised some people are skeptical at all.