Out of interest, when you go for a flu vaccine, do you insist on one brand rather than another? Or if you are poorly, do you ask the doctor for one particular type of antibiotic rather than allowing him/her to choose whatever they think is best for your circumstances? And if not, why is this any different?
Fair questions. And yes I do choose flu vax based on whether it is the tri-valent or quadri-valent type - I select the quadri-valent even though I have to pay more for it. And I do ask every year about the estimated efficacy of the shot. Not that I would refuse to have it if the efficacy in that year was low, I just like to know.
And on antibiotics, I am personally happy to take generic brands (these are supposed to be exactly the same as the branded ones), so I regularly get something that is not exactly as the doctor prescribed in terms of brand name, although apparently still the same underlying medication. My point is that I have a choice, even if it is an illusion of choice. When I used to get vaccines at the travel doctor, back in the days when overseas trips for work and pleasure were a thing, I was regularly offered a choice of different brands and combinations of vaccines for that purpose. And malaria preventions - there are so many different options that are made available to you, quite different treatment types. The doctor advises you and you choose what works best for you.
So yes, I do like to have at least the appearance of choice about my medical treatment, and in fact this is how I expect to work with my medical carers (and other advisers I have in my life). They are advisers, not dictators. They certainly have expertise that I am happy to respect and I actually almost always take their advice. However, I have had enough slightly unusual medical events in my life to know that doctors, like anyone, are not infallible, they don't know everything about me and ultimately it is my choice what I chose to do with my health. As it happens, my choice is almost always to do what the doctor advises me. However, in all aspects of my life, I absolutely detest being railroaded. I would like to be consulted and treated like an individual with a brain and a very clear self interest in getting the best care for my situation, rather than a number to be processed according to some random determinant like my age, especially in the face of the constantly changing and frequently inconsistent expert advice about AZ, for example. I understand that if facts change then advice needs to change - that is why I especially react to the dogmatic, inflexible "we are telling you" tone of the expert advice about these vaccines for the 60 plus age group. For example, apparently as of today, it's fine for anyone to take AZ. Yesterday, that was not at all the case. That's a pretty big swing. And it's not the first swing.
I recognise that it is somewhat ridiculous that I feel so upset about this, given that I would in fact take the AZ by choice. However, being told to take AZ, and only AZ, with no choice offered, or go unvaccinated, just drives me wild. And despite that, I took AZ anyway.
