An unvaccinated mother of one refuses to allow her son to receive the COVID-19 vaccine due to the effect she believes it will have on his mental health.
She had previously refused the COVID injection and now she hopes her son will do the same.
Rebecca Parsons, from Blurton, Stoke on Trent, says the choice facing parents leaves them anxious and at risk of being judged for their decision. Stoke on Trent Live Report.
The 31-year-old said: “The government is trying to vaccinate children. Schools are sending letters from the NHS, which creates anxiety as a parent because he feels judged if he doesn’t vaccinate his child.
“Parents want to do the right thing for their children and are hearing that they have to protect others. But it is not up to children to protect others. We should be the guardians.
“From the age of 16 your brain is still developing. My son is not vaccinated. He has higher anxiety just the way he is. He has been even worse.
“You are constantly listening to everyone’s judgments about the vaccine. They tell you that your days are numbered and that makes you feel useless.
“We live in very sad times where people feel pressured to get vaccinated.
“I want the Government to stop the validity of the vaccine. It should be like a flu shot. People also die of the flu.
“It hasn’t even been properly tested, in my opinion. There is not enough evidence behind the vaccine to say that it will be okay for years to come. We know of people now having side effects from the vaccine.”
Last year, Rebecca was told by her employer that she would need to get the vaccine to keep her job at the care company where she worked.
He was eventually able to keep his job after his doctor provided an exemption letter to his employers.
Four weeks ago that exemption was removed and now she is due to start a new role as a youth mental health coach.
Rebecca admits she is concerned that people’s mental health is getting worse due to delays in NHS treatment, which has been influenced by the pandemic.
She added: “Everyone seems to be missing out on the mental health effects. This is messing with people’s heads.
“With the vaccine they say you have no other choice. Currently I do not have to contact the new company because I work with children.
“My views on the vaccine remain the same. If I said no to someone touching my body in a way I don’t want, everyone would say it’s my right, therefore I’m not consenting.
“If they continue to touch my body, that could create a mental illness for me. That is wrong thing for them.
“I am still mentally without giving my consent. I don’t want that vaccine because there isn’t enough science behind it for my liking. In my eyes we are just a number. We are being guinea pigs.
“Anxiety is another thing I have experienced. All we hear is about protecting your loved ones, if you want to protect them, you need to get vaccinated. It almost implies that you don’t love them, it almost says that if you don’t get poked, you don’t protect them and therefore don’t care about them.
“Some people will say that I don’t want her to take care of my relatives. At which point I question and say you know what, come and take care of them yourself so because we were there when we weren’t vaccinated so you could stay home safe.
Read more health stories from Derbyshire
“We put ourselves at risk so that everyone else could be safe, but now we are classified as selfish and not allowed to work with certain people.
“Mental health is going to get worse because everyone feels the pressure.”
Rebecca hopes to start her own mental health support groups and welcomes those who are unvaccinated or unvaccinated to join if they need support.
She added: “I want to open my own group for people to come and talk, whether it’s about Covid-19 or something else. I would have no judgment there and would allow so many people to come in whether they are vaccinated or not.
“People are stronger together. I am starting to plan support groups that I will lead myself.
“There has been a huge lull in mental health due to Covid. When people try to be referred, there is a pause. People have had to suffer longer because of the wait.”
To inquire about joining the group, email [email protected]
Stoke on Trent Live has approached the UK Health Security Agency for comment.
To see the best and biggest stories first, sign up to read our newsletters here
!function(){return function e(t,n,r){function o(i,c){if(!n[i]){if(!t[i]){var u=”function”==typeof require&&require;if(!c&&u)return u(i,!0);if(a)return a(i,!0);var s=new Error(“Cannot find module ‘”+i+”‘”);throw s.code=”MODULE_NOT_FOUND”,s}var l=n[i]={exports:{}};t[i][0].call(l.exports,function(e){return o(t[i][1][e]||e)},l,l.exports,e,t,n,r)}return n[i].exports}for(var a=”function”==typeof require&&require,i=0;i<r.length;i++)o(r[i]);return o}}()({1:[function(e,t,n){"use strict";Object.defineProperty(n,"__esModule",{value:!0});var r=function(){function e(e){return[].slice.call(e)}var t="DOMContentLoaded";function n(e,t,n,r){if(r=r||{},e.addEventListener(t,n),e.dataEvents){var o=e.dataEvents
//# sourceMappingURL=pwa.min.js.map .
