How Spreading Covid-19 Hysteria Will Backfire for the Covid-19 Vaccine

How Spreading Covid-19 Hysteria Will Backfire for the Covid-19 Vaccine: Surveys have shown a continual decrease in enthusiasm for receiving what eventually pops out the Covid-19 vaccine pipeline. Only about half of Americans now say they would definitely get the vaccine if it were available now, down from almost three-fourths in May. The greatest concern: Potential side effects.

Vaccines can be wonderful things, and if you know your diseases the successful campaign to wipe out smallpox must truly outweigh such technological advances as the Apollo program —  unless you have moon rock fetish. Vaccines have saved an estimated 23.3 million deaths worldwide over the last decade, according to the CDC. Polio has almost disappeared worldwide through vaccination campaigns, although that program was paused by a shifting of resources to, yes, Covid-19. I waged a long battle against the “vaccines cause autism people” and have paid a terrible price in my profession for doing so.

But vaccines aren’t always safe and safety is especially important compared to treatments. Treatments are used to alleviate an illness that already exists (or is presumed to). Some like chemotherapy are literally poisons but delivered in hopes they will do more good than harm. Conversely, vaccines are given in the full knowledge that the recipient will probably never be exposed to people with the germ in question. Therefore, as a preventive measure vaccines require a much higher standard of safety and efficacy.