Alex WellersteinVerified account

(I say this as someone who gets all his vaccines, but finds needles very disturbing, even though I know, consciously, that they don't hurt. But this isn't about rationality, is it? The last time I tried to have blood drawn, I basically passed out before they even got it in me.)

(In preparation for some international travel, I recently got a battery of new vaccinations. Ironically, my emotional system got very upset about the two needle-given ones — tetanus and a TDap — but was thrilled that the typhoid one was oral. ...)

(But it was the live typhoid vaccine, which took half a week for the course, that made me feel the worse — a sick-like unpleasantness would settle on me for half a day after taking each dose, coupled with stomach issues. But I finished the course, like a good patient.)