I never realised how many of my friends and acquaintances are healthcare workers until my social media feeds started lighting up with vaccine selfies. People flash their reminder cards or brandish their bandages, and that’s a good thing: Each vaccine selfie is a little public health message, and you’re doing your part to make vaccination a normal part of life.

With the COVID vaccines being so new, a lot of people are waiting and watching as those around them get vaccines. If you’ve heard misinformation about the vaccines being harmful, that gets harder to believe as you see people in your life safely get them. And when you know who among your friends has decided to get the vaccine, you also know who you can talk to if you have concerns or want to know what it’s like.

We did ~200 Somerville seniors today! And I got my second dose of @moderna_tx . So glad to get a local vaccines [giggle]. You know, fewer vaccine miles. Nurses enjoyed photos with #FlatFauci too. #ThisIsOurShot #igottheshot #VaccinesSaveLives pic.twitter.com/zwHQWZqamm

— Dr. mem_somerville | Wossamotta U (@mem_somerville) February 10, 2021

That’s why something as simple as a vaccine selfie can help beat the pandemic. By posting on social media about your vaccination, you can help others make an informed choice. As more people get vaccinated, the virus becomes less able to spread, and we all get closer to a return to something like normal.

So here’s how to take the best vaccine selfie:

Plan your shot

You’ll send a great message whether you take your selfie before, during, or after your shot, but think about the specifics as you’re planning your appointment. Make sure to wear appropriate clothing if you want to show off your bandage or the shot itself.

While you can take a selfie anywhere, be sure to take a look around the vaccination site — some even have selfie stations set up for this purpose.

Respect others

The person giving your shot may not want to be in the photo, so don’t count on being able to take a video mid-vaccine. Sure, plenty of celebrities and politicians have had a camera crew follow them into the clinic, but that doesn’t mean providers want to be photographed or videoed while they’re at work — so either save your selfie time for afterward, or ask whether the provider is ok with you taking a pic while they’re in it.

And definitely make sure you don’t get other people in your shot who didn’t agree to be there. That’s basic manners, but sometimes we forget that others may be accidentally photobombing us. Consider who’s in the frame before you take your photo.

Done with round 2 #igottheshot ⁦ @SaratogaChamber ⁩ ⁦ @BSCSD ⁩ pic.twitter.com/qTm9gslUir

— Adrienne Snow (@MrsAdrienneSnow) February 13, 2021

Cover any personal info

Posing with a vaccine reminder card is a great alternative to showing the needle or the Band-Aid on your arm, but don’t forget that your reminder card usually has your full name and birthdate on it. Block out that info if you want to share such a pic.

Write a caption

Once you’ve taken your vaccine selfie, share it with pride! Add a caption explaining what you’re doing and giving any information you like about how you feel about it or how you made your decision. If you’re tempted to add a joke about how you got microchipped today, please make extremely clear that it’s a joke. Posts that are misunderstood can be screenshotted and passed around as misinformation, so do your best not to fuel that fire.

You can use these tips for flu shots or your baby’s vaccines, as well. Often, people don’t hear much about vaccines except in the context of misinformation or complaints, but the truth is that most parents vaccinate their kids, and around 40% of adults get a flu shot in a typical year. It means a lot just to see that trusted people in your life are getting their shots.

The post Why Vaccine Selfies Are Actually Good appeared first on Lifehacker Australia .

In the early days of the pandemic, there was an idea being thrown around that we should attempt to reach “herd immunity” as soon as possible. It was a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad idea, because it amounted to giving up and letting millions of people die . And yet, now that we have a vaccine, herd immunity is suddenly a good thing. What gives?

In short, herd immunity from vaccination protects people from getting sick. Herd immunity from natural infection is what you get after you have failed to protect everybody from getting sick.

“Herd immunity” describes how the community protects people

Let’s talk about what herd immunity actually means. It’s also called “community immunity.”

If most people in a community are immune to a contagious disease, then the few individuals who are not immune are at a decreased risk of catching it. If nearly everybody in your city is immune to measles, for example — either from the vaccine or from surviving it as a child — then babies who are not yet old enough to get the MMR vaccine are protected simply because there aren’t many people around to be able to transmit measles to them.

Herd immunity is not perfect protection, but it means that there aren’t many people who are susceptible to the disease, and that those people are not likely to be in contact with each other. It would be very difficult for an outbreak to start in a community like this.

Herd immunity is a goal of vaccination

Vaccinating one person protects that person; vaccinating most people protects vulnerable people throughout the community.

The definition of “most” will depend on how infectious the disease is. For measles, you’d need at least 92% of people to be immune. For COVID-19, one common estimate is that 70% of people need to be immune to reach herd immunity.

Herd immunity has kept diseases in check in the past. Smallpox vaccination campaigns resulted in smallpox being eradicated from the earth — the only human disease that has ever been fully eliminated. Measles still exists, but outbreaks in the U.S. quickly fizzle out thanks to our good vaccination coverage and aggressive contact tracing (although the pandemic has interfered with that work.)

Infection-derived herd immunity is not the same thing

In theory, it’s possible to achieve herd immunity through natural infection. But that’s not a smart plan for dealing with any lethal disease, for two reasons:

First, if there is no vaccine, we only achieve herd immunity after many, many people have gotten sick. If you were to have a community in which 70% of people are COVID-19 survivors, that means the community would have buried many of its residents, and many of those who remain would have long-term complications. (Never mind the collateral damage of an overwhelmed healthcare system and the economic consequences of an unchecked pandemic, which would have caused yet more death and misery.) Even if the remaining 30% are protected, it was at a horrifying cost.

Second, if the only way to gain immunity is to become infected yourself, there is no way to provide that immunity to new arrivals — like babies — without exposing them to all the dangers of the illness. Herd immunity without vaccination is temporary.

The reason vaccines are so valuable is because they give us immunity without requiring us to go through all the danger of getting sick. Herd immunity from natural infection is the result of a tragedy, while vaccines allow us to reach herd immunity safely.

The post Why Is ‘Herd Immunity’ Suddenly a Good Thing? appeared first on Lifehacker Australia .