Japanese TV presents some critical opinions for a change
Upon the announcement of the Japanese government telling regional administrations to prepare to give the fourth dose in May, Japanese TV station TBS decided to take a short break from its usual uncritical pharma marketing and ask why many double-jabbed Japanese (79.4% of the population) weren’t rushing to get the third jab (only 36.6% as of 24th March). [Full video here.]
Opinions of vaccine effectiveness and side-effects gleaned from social networking sites (SNS) included:
“They say a fourth shot. It’s becoming a pain in the arse, so I don’t want to get jabbed.”
“The side-effects were so rough that I won’t be doing it again.”
“You’re better off catching Covid. It’s a cold”.
“If there were a clear benefit, I’d want to get vaccinated, but there’s not, so I won’t.”
“High vaccination rates overseas haven’t brought cases down. I don’t want to take a vaccine that’s ineffective against variants.”
The segment then touched on the key weapon in the Japanese vaccinator’s arsenal: peer-pressure.
“My relatives are pressuring me to get vaccinated. I hate it.”
“My work place is making the jab virtually compulsory. I’m definitely not taking it, so I’m expecting to get fired.”
A couple of pre-school teachers shared their thoughts.
“On a pre-school staff SNS chat, I’ve heard of parents asking teachers ‘Are you vaccinated?’ The feeling in the air is basically one of compulsory vaccination at this point.”
“I don’t like getting jabbed, but I’ve got to do it to protect the kids.”
“There’s a thought of giving staff around two days off to get vaccinated and recover from the side effects. Even then, I’d still be on the fence.”
Then some more combative opinions were presented.
One was a tweet from Junichi Wakabashi, a city councilor in rural Usuki City (pop 35,000) who previously made the news by scandalously not wearing a mask during a council meeting.
“By recommending a vaccine with unknown mid- to long-term effects, what are we trying to protect?”
Other opinions taken from SNS were:
“Both Japan and overseas show the vaccines don’t provide herd immunity or protection. Until when are we going to keep vaccinating?”
“It just looks like pharma companies profiteering.”
The presenter even mentioned an “anti-vax” demo at a shooting gallery in Tokyo that temporarily caused the jabbers to suspend operations.
But of course, no segment on Covid would be complete without the thoughts of a selected expert, in this case Prof Hiroyuki Moriuchi from Nagasaki University. To be fair, his first point wasn’t too bad as far as “expert opinions” go...
“The vaccines are effective at preventing symptomatic and severe disease. If you’re at low risk, you may not need to take it.”
But he couldn’t keep it up.
“Vaccination shouldn’t be forced, but it’s not like there’s absolutely no effect at preventing infection. So I’d like anyone living or working around the elderly to consider it.”
And of course, he even recommended the fourth jab,
“It should be prepared for targeted groups like those at high risk and the elderly. Timing should be decided after looking at infection prevalence.”
So there you go. Not quite as critical this blog, but better than pretty much everything else Japanese TV has produced on anything Covid related.
