If only the CDC—or even CNN—would explain the difference between the FDA’s emergency authorization and its regular approval process! People have told me that they don’t trust the vaccines because they only got Emergency Authorization and that means the process was rushed and not as thorough. I had to do a lot of digging to unearth the difference between EA and regular approval. If this information was broadly disseminated, I believe it would really boost the vaccination effort!
Alice, you make a good point. Emergency Authorization does not mean "untested," as the right-wing media is suggesting. It is true that EA does not track the vaccine's effects over a multi-year period. But if we waited for those results, the deaths would be in the millions. I am going to address vaccine education again in tonight's edition of the newsletter.
Hi, Jody. Thanks for your comment. Readers sometimes tell me they find my candor depressing, which is the opposite of my intended effect. We need to be honest about our challenges if we hope to prevail.
One valid argument to help those who a hesitant about getting vaccine is this: Every unvaccinated person is a living Petri dish in which COVID can replicate and may mutate. This is how variants of the virus arise and spread. Beyond self interest, getting vaccinated is responsible, ethical, compassionate, humane and supportive of a vibrant economy and a vibrant nation.
How on earth did we get so many people who are afraid of what is in the vaccine and not afraid of what they put in their mouths daily in processed, sprayed, antibiotic fed, chemically stabilized
food? Read what is on a soda can ingredient list, or in chips, or dinner in a box, or in a hot dog!
The story of vaccine hesitancy is long and complicated. But one watershed event was the publication of a study in The Lancet by Dr. Andrew Wakefield that falsely claimed the MMR vaccine caused autism. The Lancet eventually withdrew the article in 2010 after it learned that it had been "deceived" by Dr. Wakefield's study methodology. "Wakefield was struck off the UK medical register, due in part to his deliberate falsification of research published in The Lancet." But for a period of 12 years, Wakefield's article was cited as proof that vaccines caused autism. It has been impossible to undo the damage done by Dr. Wakefield, especially when celebrities like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continue to raise doubt about the safety of vaccines. Jaunita Johnson's point below relates to the unethical treatment of Black men and women in experimental studies without their consent. That also caused lasting damage, which continues to cause understandable suspicion in communities of color. And many studies show that Black patients receive different and lower standards of care than white patients. So, when the medical community says to the Black community, "Trust us," there is a trust gap that must be overcome.
Many people of color have historical and current realities of medical racism that impact trust in medicine. I speak for a few members of my own family who are highly educated.
Robert, please use your phrase, “We have every reason to be hopeful and no reason to be complacent” more often. Maybe I got it backwards. If so, more reason for you to continue to close with it.
Good reminder! I will do so! My wife / Managing Editor says the newsletter has become less positive in the last few weeks. i will correct that editorial oversight.
I still don’t understand why the efforts of the Biden administration to convince people to get Covid-19 vaccinations don’t use the most powerful argument: “Getting the Covid-19 vaccine is the SMART thing to do!”
My family is often irritated by my unbridled optimism. (I thought McGovern would win!) But the share depravity and mendacity of the Republicans is dispiriting and alarming. The voter suppression laws are draconian and seem to progress with no slowing in sight. The daily lying, as I've said before, is eerily reminiscent of the climate in South Africa from the mid 60s to the 1990s. I used to wake up to large blank columns in the daily newspaper - the result of the official government censors; the arrests without habeas corpus and the daily lies on the part of the government. A close colleague of mine, a former justice, said about 18 months ago that she had given up on the Supreme Court and that it would take 40 years for the country to return to normal. I am supporting the people whom you suggest and can only hope that the voter efforts we saw during the pandemic will rule the day again.
Hi, Derek. Your feelings are understandable and widely shared. The voter suppression laws can be overcome, but it will take effort. It is obscene that we make voting more difficult than buying a gun. But Republicans are waking up to the fact that their roadblocks will affect Republican voters as well--many of whom are elderly and less skilled with computers. So, there will not be a "Democratic only" suppressive effect. Our response must be to fight harder, not give in to despair. Thanks for doing your part!
If only the CDC—or even CNN—would explain the difference between the FDA’s emergency authorization and its regular approval process! People have told me that they don’t trust the vaccines because they only got Emergency Authorization and that means the process was rushed and not as thorough. I had to do a lot of digging to unearth the difference between EA and regular approval. If this information was broadly disseminated, I believe it would really boost the vaccination effort!
Alice, you make a good point. Emergency Authorization does not mean "untested," as the right-wing media is suggesting. It is true that EA does not track the vaccine's effects over a multi-year period. But if we waited for those results, the deaths would be in the millions. I am going to address vaccine education again in tonight's edition of the newsletter.
Clear-eyed analysis as always. Especially on the GOP. Thank you!
Hi, Jody. Thanks for your comment. Readers sometimes tell me they find my candor depressing, which is the opposite of my intended effect. We need to be honest about our challenges if we hope to prevail.
One valid argument to help those who a hesitant about getting vaccine is this: Every unvaccinated person is a living Petri dish in which COVID can replicate and may mutate. This is how variants of the virus arise and spread. Beyond self interest, getting vaccinated is responsible, ethical, compassionate, humane and supportive of a vibrant economy and a vibrant nation.
Hi, Mardi. All good points. As noted above, I am going to discuss a resource tonight.to help educate vaccine hesitant people.
How on earth did we get so many people who are afraid of what is in the vaccine and not afraid of what they put in their mouths daily in processed, sprayed, antibiotic fed, chemically stabilized
food? Read what is on a soda can ingredient list, or in chips, or dinner in a box, or in a hot dog!
The story of vaccine hesitancy is long and complicated. But one watershed event was the publication of a study in The Lancet by Dr. Andrew Wakefield that falsely claimed the MMR vaccine caused autism. The Lancet eventually withdrew the article in 2010 after it learned that it had been "deceived" by Dr. Wakefield's study methodology. "Wakefield was struck off the UK medical register, due in part to his deliberate falsification of research published in The Lancet." But for a period of 12 years, Wakefield's article was cited as proof that vaccines caused autism. It has been impossible to undo the damage done by Dr. Wakefield, especially when celebrities like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continue to raise doubt about the safety of vaccines. Jaunita Johnson's point below relates to the unethical treatment of Black men and women in experimental studies without their consent. That also caused lasting damage, which continues to cause understandable suspicion in communities of color. And many studies show that Black patients receive different and lower standards of care than white patients. So, when the medical community says to the Black community, "Trust us," there is a trust gap that must be overcome.
Many people of color have historical and current realities of medical racism that impact trust in medicine. I speak for a few members of my own family who are highly educated.
Robert, please use your phrase, “We have every reason to be hopeful and no reason to be complacent” more often. Maybe I got it backwards. If so, more reason for you to continue to close with it.
Good reminder! I will do so! My wife / Managing Editor says the newsletter has become less positive in the last few weeks. i will correct that editorial oversight.
I still don’t understand why the efforts of the Biden administration to convince people to get Covid-19 vaccinations don’t use the most powerful argument: “Getting the Covid-19 vaccine is the SMART thing to do!”
My family is often irritated by my unbridled optimism. (I thought McGovern would win!) But the share depravity and mendacity of the Republicans is dispiriting and alarming. The voter suppression laws are draconian and seem to progress with no slowing in sight. The daily lying, as I've said before, is eerily reminiscent of the climate in South Africa from the mid 60s to the 1990s. I used to wake up to large blank columns in the daily newspaper - the result of the official government censors; the arrests without habeas corpus and the daily lies on the part of the government. A close colleague of mine, a former justice, said about 18 months ago that she had given up on the Supreme Court and that it would take 40 years for the country to return to normal. I am supporting the people whom you suggest and can only hope that the voter efforts we saw during the pandemic will rule the day again.
Hi, Derek. Your feelings are understandable and widely shared. The voter suppression laws can be overcome, but it will take effort. It is obscene that we make voting more difficult than buying a gun. But Republicans are waking up to the fact that their roadblocks will affect Republican voters as well--many of whom are elderly and less skilled with computers. So, there will not be a "Democratic only" suppressive effect. Our response must be to fight harder, not give in to despair. Thanks for doing your part!
Thank you.
Thanks, Eva. I appreciate your note.