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Young People and the COVID Vaccine

2021-04-23 · explainer · Hank · 3:58 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Health · mode: Advocacy & fundraising · tags: timely hook, civic or action cta

As every US adult becomes eligible and daily vaccinations slow, Hank answers reasons young people give for putting off the COVID vaccine (inconvenience, low personal risk, prior infection) and argues the decision is simple: get vaccinated now.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — US vaccine eligibility opens to everyone over 16; daily vaccinations start to slow, largely because of younger people

  • ★★★ In the US everyone over 16 can now get a COVID vaccine; over 200 million doses have been given and around 40% of people have had at least one dose. — 00:00:00 · United States, vaccine, COVID-19 pandemic
  • ★★★ Daily vaccinations are no longer rising each day and are starting to fall, largely because younger people, meaning under 50, are not getting vaccinated immediately. — 00:00:00

00:00:30 — Reasons young people give for not getting vaccinated, and Hank's answers; the decision is simple

  • ★★★ A tremendously underexamined reason is that vaccination is a slightly unpleasant task people put off now that they can do it any time. — 00:00:30
  • ★★ Hank felt pretty crummy the day after his second dose. — 00:00:40
  • ★★★ As with all procrastination there is no better time than now: the trade-off is scheduled mild inconvenience versus unscheduled major inconvenience and maybe worse. — 00:00:40
  • ★★★ COVID symptoms suck at any age; it kills few young people, but hospitalization rates are pretty high, which also burdens overburdened health workers. — 00:01:07 · COVID-19 pandemic
  • ★★ COVID has long-term side effects that are not well understood, sometimes even after very mild cases. — 00:01:07 · COVID-19 pandemic
  • ★★★ Even without that, getting COVID means feeling awful and quarantining, so why not cut those odds by 95%. — 00:01:07 · vaccine, COVID-19 pandemic
  • ★★★ Everyone but the first case caught COVID from someone else; many are infected by people who don't know they are infected, and vaccination cuts the odds of infecting others way down. — 00:01:37 · COVID-19 pandemic
  • ★★★ Every new COVID variant evolved inside a person; nobody wants to be that breeding ground, and a vaccine prevents it. — 00:02:10 · COVID-19 pandemic
  • ★★★ Immunity from getting COVID is much less effective at preventing future infections than the vaccines, so having had or planning to get COVID is no substitute: you need a vaccine. — 00:02:10 · vaccine, COVID-19 pandemic
  • ★★ For many a vaccine feels like taking back control from the pandemic, for others like giving up control; for Hank it felt like taking back control. — 00:02:59
  • ★★★ Because vaccines are a big deal and a triumph of hard work and ingenuity, people think the decision needs fretting, but it is simple and not a big deal. — 00:02:59 · vaccine
  • ★ Hank introduces himself as a maker of science videos who has made free educational videos online for over 10 years. (playful) — 00:03:28
  • ★★★ As a favor, Hank asks viewers to use the description link, enter their zip code, make a COVID vaccine appointment, put it in their phone, go, and get a free donut. — 00:03:28 · vaccine, COVID-19 pandemic

00:03:37 — Hank asks viewers, as a favor, to book an appointment through the description link; sign-off

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: COVID-19 pandemic · vaccine · Youth

Also: Asymptomatic carrier · Long COVID · procrastination · United States · Variants of SARS-CoV-2

Only in the description or credits: VaccineFinder

Also centred on Youth: Dear Young People, You Terrify Me

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