Covid-19 vaccination: Needle phobia - it's the jab, not the vaccine, some fear
By Ella Wills
BBC News
A mass vaccination programme against Covid-19 is set to begin in the UK on Tuesday. While the government is working to ease the fears of those who are worried about safety, some people have a more primal fear - needles.
"My heart would be racing. My mind saying, 'calm down, it's going to be fine' but also, 'it's terrifying, it's going to really hurt you'. Then 'you don't know this person, so you can't trust them'. I would be thinking of ways to get away from it."
Raelene Goody, 31, who has cystic fibrosis, an inherited condition that causes lung infections and problems digesting food, regularly requires injections, including an annual flu jab.
But from the age of four to her late teens, she suffered from severe needle phobia that would leave her "shaking" and often meant she had to be sedated.
"It's like when you are really scared of something like spiders and snakes and you want to run away. It's a similar feeling, except it is a needle," she says. "Apparently I punched my dad in the face once, but I was so petrified I can't remember it."
Raelene's severe phobia of injections, known as trypanophobia, in her younger years is not uncommon. Some others have a more general fear of needles, known as belonephobia. Studies show such a fear is highest in children and decreases with age. Nevertheless, it affects up to 10% of the overall population, according to charity Anxiety UK.
Despite her phobia, Raelene, from West Sussex, was still able to go through with her flu vaccination each year, although it could sometimes take hours to administer the jab.
Read the rest of the article here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55175483
By Ella Wills
BBC News
A mass vaccination programme against Covid-19 is set to begin in the UK on Tuesday. While the government is working to ease the fears of those who are worried about safety, some people have a more primal fear - needles.
"My heart would be racing. My mind saying, 'calm down, it's going to be fine' but also, 'it's terrifying, it's going to really hurt you'. Then 'you don't know this person, so you can't trust them'. I would be thinking of ways to get away from it."
Raelene Goody, 31, who has cystic fibrosis, an inherited condition that causes lung infections and problems digesting food, regularly requires injections, including an annual flu jab.
But from the age of four to her late teens, she suffered from severe needle phobia that would leave her "shaking" and often meant she had to be sedated.
"It's like when you are really scared of something like spiders and snakes and you want to run away. It's a similar feeling, except it is a needle," she says. "Apparently I punched my dad in the face once, but I was so petrified I can't remember it."
Raelene's severe phobia of injections, known as trypanophobia, in her younger years is not uncommon. Some others have a more general fear of needles, known as belonephobia. Studies show such a fear is highest in children and decreases with age. Nevertheless, it affects up to 10% of the overall population, according to charity Anxiety UK.
Despite her phobia, Raelene, from West Sussex, was still able to go through with her flu vaccination each year, although it could sometimes take hours to administer the jab.
Read the rest of the article here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-55175483
