There are certain topics that you probably don’t want to bring up on a first date. When you’re just getting to know a person, you may not want to ask about religion, politics, or social issues. But maybe we should be asking these questions early on, because it can be extremely unsettling when you suddenly find out that your partner is on a completely different page.
One woman reached out to the internet for support after realizing that her boyfriend didn’t support vaccines. Below, you’ll find the full story that the nurse shared online, as well as some of the replies invested readers left her.
It's not necessary to have the exact same views as your partner
But when this woman's boyfriend revealed that he was skeptical of vaccines, she immediately knew that was a dealbreaker
It's estimated that vaccines have saved over 154 million lives in the last half century
Vaccines have been a hot topic for years, but they were really thrown into the spotlight during the COVID-19 pandemic. Suddenly, it seemed like everyone had an opinion on them, and more people became skeptical of them than ever before.
Vaccines are nothing new, as they’ve been around for nearly 250 years. And the World Health Organization estimates that they have saved over 154 million lives over the past 50 years. There’s a reason why so many schools require children to be vaccinated and why some countries require visitors to have certain vaccines before entering.
The necessity for vaccines is really quite simple. The NHS reports that they protect adults and children from serious and potentially fatal diseases, and they help protect the most vulnerable members of society who are too ill or young to get vaccinated.
Plus, before these vaccines are rolled out, they undergo rigorous safety testing. They can sometimes even reduce or eliminate certain diseases if enough people are vaccinated.
But in recent years, skepticism about vaccines has been on the rise, primarily due to misinformation spreading like wildfire on social media. In fact, confidence in vaccine safety has dropped in dozens of countries between 2015 and 2024.
The most significant drops were seen in Germany, Sweden, Morocco, Tunisia, and South Korea, with some countries falling over 20 percentage points.
Unfortunately, there are several myths about vaccinations that continue to spread online, despite countless efforts by medical professionals to dispel them.
The internet is full of misinformation about vaccines
The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology notes that some of the most common myths about vaccines are that they contain many harmful ingredients, that they cause autism and SIDS, that vaccine-preventable diseases are just a part of childhood, that parents don’t need to vaccinate their kids because they can rely on herd immunity, and that children can actually get diseases from vaccines.
There was also plenty of misinformation floating around about the COVID-19 vaccines, including that they were not tested before approval, that the vaccine causes COVID-19, that there are microchips in the vaccine, that it will alter a person’s DNA, and that those who have had COVID-19 don’t need to be vaccinated.
None of this is true. While vaccines sometimes do cause a temporary fever or a sore arm, it is extremely unlikely that you will experience adverse health effects due to a vaccine. And there is absolutely no evidence that vaccines cause autism, SIDS, or other disorders.
Meanwhile, relying on herd immunity only works if a large enough percentage of the population is vaccinated. If enough people choose to opt out, herd immunity will disappear, and more and more people will be vulnerable to diseases.
While it should be obvious that a nurse knows more about health and vaccines than someone who doesn’t work in the medical field, there are plenty of people who have decided that they are experts thanks to a podcast that they listened to or a post they saw on social media.
It may seem petty to end a relationship over a debate like this, but it’s always a good idea to stand by your beliefs and refuse to compromise them for anyone else.
We would love to hear your thoughts on this situation in the comments below, pandas. Then, if you’re interested in checking out another article from Bored Panda discussing similar themes, look no further than right here.
Readers were shocked by the man's behavior, and the author joined in to share more details about her situation
