Vaccinated? Well as an expat we don't really have a choice

I hate that this is the case because I am one of those people that kind of doesn't think that he needs to be vaccinated and I know a lot of people that feel the same way. If I was back in my home country I would probably be one of the people in the resistance but as sad as it might sound, as an expat, you kind of give up a lot of your ability to resist.

If you don't do what the government says for you to do as an expat you only have one choice: Get out.

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I do not know the above person by the way, it was just a stock image. When I was there getting my first shot they were being a little bit weird about people taking pictures so I didn't do it.

Here's the thing: I don't believe that someone in their 30's needs to be vaccinated. From that data that I have bothered to look at it seems really silly that it would be required of people since the opportunity for anyone in that age bracket to suffer bad consequences is extremely low especially if they are reasonably fit and healthy, which I am. If the vaccine made it impossible for you to get or even transfer the virus than I guess you could say that I would still be ok with it, but it doesn't appear to do that either. The only thing that I can find is people talking about how the effects of the virus are drastically reduced if you are vaccinated, but i'm in an age category where severe side-effects are already really rare, so I don't really understand how this is helping.

The thing is, the expat life in Vietnam is pretty damn great: You have a great quality of life, everything is cheap, and for the most part you get to do whatever you want without the government being all up in your face about things, however, there are talks about proof of vaccination being mandatory for anyone extending a visa or even gaining entrance to this, and the neighboring countries.

I quite like living here and if I did what I would really like to do, which is to refuse the vaccine, then the only choice I may have down the road would be to return to my home country and I definitely don't want to do that. Most of the people that I hang out with feel the same way, even the older ones that are in the groups that are meant to have a higher % chance of problems if they are unvaccinated.

So as much as it pains me to "give in," and the fact that I believe the vax is wasted on me because I am in a group with virtually no chance of death when unvaccinated, I am going to go ahead and do it because the alternative is to get out. I don't want to get out and I hate that it has come to this, but I'm afraid that for me and the hundred thousand or so of expats that still remain in this country, that we aren't going to have a choice very soon.

I want to continue to hang out in a country that has a very low cost of living and fairly easy-to-acquire visas. If I go somewhere else, or especially back to my home country, this will no longer be the case. I feel like a little bit of a cop-out for capitulating, but honestly, if you lived here and liked it as much as I do, I think your mind might be changed as well.

At least they haven't jumped on the bandwagon of never-ending booster shots yet.