Vaccine rollout is in full swing, and if you’re eligible, you should do your part and get the shot(s)! Getting vaccinated helps keep everyone safe, and it’s important to dispel misinformation and help everyone feel comfortable, but with that being said, it was sort of scary how tons of people with uteruses had breakthrough bleeding and irregular menstruation after getting vaccinated, but we really don’t want to fear monger because there’s too much of that out there and we should trust the science, BUT what does “the science” even mean? Is that not just an appeal to an authority that, historically, has dehumanized and committed systematic violence against marginalized racial and gender groups? Certainly, we don’t think we should have to whitewash that reality in order to help validate the vaccine, that’s not our job, but, like, you should get the vaccine.
From the start, there has been a disinformation war alongside the war against COVID. And that’s part of why we don’t want to voice a view of the vaccine with any nuance whatsoever because we’re afraid people will think we’re anti-vaxxers or QAnon followers or something, and that is sooo not the case. Please believe us. We’re on your side. Don’t run away because we’re saying something slightly different from Dax Shepard, probably.
The truth is, we’re here to say, the vaccine is safe! Most likely. But that doesn’t change the fact that our whole medical system centers cis white able-bodied men as default patients, and that Black people have and continue to bear the worst costs of medical racism and are then gaslit by white liberals who say their concerns and skepticism are invalid, and that’s really fucked up. And let’s be real, if there were some vaccine effect that only impacted people with uteruses, it would not be taken anywhere near as seriously as something that impacted cis men, and we should GET TO SAY THAT!! Because why is the onus on us to create trust for the western medical establishment, when it should be on them to win our trust with demonstrable improvement in inclusive care and acknowledgment of past and ongoing wrongdoing????? Anyway, we got vaccinated and you should, too!
Really, we do think you should. But also, you know, all the other stuff, too. It’s a lot. Good luck staying healthy and sane!
