First of all, thanks for making a civil post and I am happy to try and answer your questions and understand the issue further.
>First question- I am around mid 30's in age, over the past while since covid 19 first emerged, I would guess I have personally known and and grieved over, maybe 40-50 people, friends family and acquaintances that are no longer with us due to opiates, mainly fentynal, yet I dont know any one personally that has died due to covid 19
I am terribly sorry you have lost so many of your friends to fentanyl contamination, by people, who are, in my opinion, just as despicable as the people who are selling these fake Covid-19 cards. It is truly another epidemic we have to deal with, and that's why I am hopeful that all these new programs for harm reduction and encouraging people to test their drugs for fentanyl before they use them -- incidentally, if you weren't aware, you can purchase a pack of 10 very easy to use forensic test strips for fentanyl from Dancesafe.org: https://dancesafe.org/product/fentanyl-test-strips-pack-of-10-free-shipping/ for only $20 w/ free shipping, and I would encourage you tell tell your friends, family and anyone close to you who chooses to use drugs to pick these up as well, as they can literally save your life, and is well worth the investment.
However, in regards to you not knowing anyone having died of Covid personally, that is a simple matter of your own personal anecdotal experience, vs what the statistics say. Just as of today, the official statistics have come out that over 700,000 Americans have died as a direct result of Covid-19, which, like I mentioned is more people killed during the entire 10 years of the Vietnam War, and more than the 1918 Spanish Flu, which is one of the deadliest outbreaks of a plague that humanity has ever faced. This essentially falls under anecdotal logical fallacy - https://fallacyinlogic.com/anecdotal-fallacy-definition-and-examples/anecdotal - and I don't mean that in a condescending way. But, that is simply your own PERSONAL experience, whereas the statistics on the issue are clear that people are dying of Covid more and more at an alarming rate. So, there could be a variety of factors as to why you haven't personally known anyone that hasn't died of Covid. Perhaps, they took all the proper precautions like masking up, practicing good social distancing, and even getting the free vaccine. Perhaps, as I mentioned in my original post, that they some people you known have even HAD Covid, but thought it was merely a cold because they had a strong immune system, and or were one of the 60% of people that can catch Covid and be completely asymptomatic. Without knowing (and you may not even know yourself, as you can't be expected to survey all your friends and find out those answers) those factors and the number of other incalculable number of variables that takes place from person to person, it's a question that can't be answered directly. But I can assure you that is not due to any false information being presented to you, the CDC, WHO, or any government bodies or NGOs can attest and the sources can be looked up, studied and verified, that you put yourself in a MUCH safer position by getting the Covid vaccine than not. Consider the following:
Who’s vaccinated?
1. Donald Trump and every other living U.S. president
2. All 50 governors- both (Republican) and (Democratic)
3. Nearly 100% of US Congress
4. 96% of American physicians
5. 75-80% of the military, soon 100%
Who’s not vaccinated? 99.2% of all people currently dying of Covid-19.
Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/09/02/fact-check-viral-post-vaccinated-politicians-doctors-little-off/5670809001/
So, if all these people have been vaccinated, yet you are hearing information from other sources saying things along the lines of "only old people die of Covid" or other such misinformation, they are simply coming out of people's mouths who have an agenda to spread such misinformation.
By getting vaccinated, you are merely taking a simple precautionary measure against a this continuously spreading pandemic, where the virus itself is even morphing into even more dangerous variants, such as the Delta and Alpha variants, you are still more well protected than anyone who doesn't have the vaccine. Your likelihood of having any adverse effects from the vaccine is so extremely minute as to be something along the lines of below 0.000x% (from the data I recall reading) that you would have a better chance of being hit by a meteor than having an adverse reaction. Not to mention, it's completely free, so it's just a win-win net positive for you no matter how you look at it.
>Second Question- Its been made clear that this vaccine is different then all the others administered in the past in regards to testing and long term effects because of the dire need for it ASAP, so (i use this lightly) the tests for FDA approval were rushed...
That is completely untrue and another one of the many many forms of misinformation that is floating around out there, and I don't blame you for believing it, as I had that same mindset when I first heard about the vaccine during the initial stages of the pandemic. Because this is mRNA vaccine, which is different than traditional vaccines, it operates a bit differently and I also think that's where some of the confusion comes from. As I posted in my first post above, the FDA has EXTREMELY rigid and stringent testing standards that it goes over with the top doctors, scientists, and experts in the fields of virology and virus research, which you can read more about on the FDA's website: https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/development-approval-process-cber/vaccine-development-101. As to whether you will have any side effects down the road is very unlikely. This type of vaccine is going to end up being the type of seasonal vaccine that we will all have to get year after year, like the flu vaccine, so if you get the vaccine and continue with this good health practice, you will be exposed to it many times throughout your lifetime.
I'd recommend watching these two videos made for the lay person on the topic of the vaccine and how it works and what it's doing inside the human body, courtesy of a science based channel, AsapSCIENCE.
The Coronavirus Vaccine Explained | COVID-19: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSuxVwMkcpA
What The COVID Vaccine Does To Your Body: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=the81FQoAUI
I hope that answers your questions and allays any fears or concerns you had about the vaccine. Thank you for being courteous in your response to my post.
-SS
