“I, for three hours, just expressed my concerns, my fears, my thoughts and instead of a coercive conversation it was very much sincere from the heart, ‘Jason here’s the facts.’”
Those facts surrounded three primary questions from Lerato.
He asked them about the odds of him contracting COVID-19, or the delta variant in particular, were he not to get vaccinated. They explained his chances were very high; it was more a question of when, and they said he was likely to end up in hospital or worse if infected.
That prompted another question: if he were to get the shot, what were the chances of still getting COVID-19? At the time Lerato believed getting the shot would be worse for him than not having it.
“They said, ‘Well, you might still carry COVID or delta, but it’s not going to affect you the same way, and chances of you going to the hospital or death is extremely low,’” he said.
The brother-in-law then said he, being double-vaccinated, was more of a danger to Lerato than Lerato was to him.
“I said how? He said, ‘Because I could be carrying delta or COVID but it won’t affect me really because I’m vaccinated. So, if I give you a handshake or give you a hug and you’re not vaccinated, you’re going to get it.’ It kind of woke me up.”
Long, slow conversation
The conversation was long and slow. What was once a firm conviction of 20 years gradually fell away. It was a combination of what they said and how they said it, according to Lerato.
“They were very sincere, instead of being pushy or making my thoughts seem ridiculous,” he said.