Too Many Pricks 

I’ll state upfront that I have no medical qualifications or particular in-depth knowledge / experience of medicine, or even of the NHS as a real patient for many years now. Why this disclaimer? Well mainly because what follows is my own supposition, sparked by an unexpected phone call from my GP’s Surgery last week. 

Back in the past if you were feeling ill and home remedies or jollop from Boots didn’t work, it was a trip to the Surgery. You could usually book an appointment by telephone for the very next day, or worst ways undergo a stint in the waiting room that very same day to see a genuine doctor. Only on rare occasions was a home call out necessary – do these even still exist? The doctor didn’t sit in front of a PC screen, but faced the patient and asked a few questions. This would often involve an examination, followed by the doctor’s pronouncement – sometimes but not always (much to the annoyance of hypochondriacs) accompanied by a prescription for tablets or medicine. Doctors dealt only with the patients’ self-diagnosed ailments / concerns and didn’t proffer advice about anything else, nor offer additional unrelated ‘treatments’. 

When did this all change? 

Is it just me, or has it become the accepted norm that vaccinations are now necessary to prevent every eventuality, or in NHS baby-talk ‘make you less poorly than you might otherwise be’? 

As a child of the very late 1950s I had every vaccination on offer, because my 1930s born patents had seen the results of polio etc. They 100% trusted the family doctor and the, then still wonderful NHS, to offer only what was strictly necessary and 99% safe. I also remember receiving some sort of multiple-needled vaccination early on at secondary school (with parental consent and, then, absolute disdain for any classmate whose parents opted them out). About the same time, our first family package holiday to Ibiza – then so exotic that my parents read up about it via library books – also meant a family trip to the GP. If memory serves, this was for smallpox vaccinations, due to the dangers of mucky foreign tapwater (we also took some tablets to dissolve in bottles of water, to ensure we weren’t cleaning our teeth with Spanish sewage). 

That’s it for me as far as my vaccination history goes (except a self-requested Tetanus booster in the early 90s, as my ham-fisted DIY attempts frequently ended with cuts from rusty tools). 

Covid vaccinations I entirely and very purposefully passed on, having seen through the big lie. I also always bypass flu vaccinations, on account of my mother’s adverse experience when bullied by the other old biddies into having  one. She only did this once however, immediately followed by severe bedridden flu, and the discovery that the annual recipe is anyway based on crystal ball gazing. I was though, and still am, the recipient of GP Surgery texts inviting me for Covid and flu jabs. 

As a guilty online browser of the Daily Mail, I’m aware that nowadays only MONSTERS don’t permit their children to receive multiple vaccinations and that previously common childhood ailments are ALL KILLERS. The latest is Chickenpox, for which childhood vaccination is now also recommended as well as Whooping Cough for the pregnant (‘pregnant persons’ knowing the NHS). 

Last week I was surprised to receive a real phone call (not the usual text) from the GP’s Surgery, offering me a free checkup (age-related I guess). I declined as I’m not consciously ill, suspect it would be a cholesterol hunt with inevitable statins hard sell, and would prefer the NHS to restrict its sainted-self to being available for genuine medical interventions when the patient requires them instead of touting. I politely agreed that they could call me again in a year’s time (thinking I might fancy a visit to the Surgery by then), and was then asked if I’d like free Shingles and Pneumonia vaccinations – TNC readers can guess my reply. The lady on the other end of the phone laughed, in what I thought was a rather conspiratorial and tacitly supportive tone. 

Why does it now seem that whilst getting a GP appointment or minor surgery is nigh on impossible without going private, the perpetually cash-strapped NHS has decided to put its efforts into expensive ‘prevention’ (as opposed to cure) with free vaccinations for everything? 

I think we all know the answer, and without going into conspiracy mode we can only stand by incredulous as the majority(?) now believe everything is simultaneously a killer and preventable by an injection (or several). Those of us who disagree are indeed monsters who simply refuse to ‘follow the science’, as well as confusingly putting the vaccinated at risk. 

I’m really not opposed to vaccinations that guarantee a lifetime of 100% immunity to something nasty, but if it’s only a possibility of ‘being less poorly’, for something I’m never likely to contract or with unknown outcomes, then it’s a big ‘no thanks’ from me. 

Martin Rispin has had a career in many different sectors, most lately in the fields of English Tourism and Heritage based Urban Regeneration. He now lives, retired, in Kingston upon Hull.

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