Vaccines are an important reason why life expectancy has made huge gains over the last century. That trend is threatened, however, by a growing skepticism about vaccines, especially for those on the political right.
As a physician, I am fully aware of the benefits and risks of vaccines and I fully endorse them for those who need them. That means I don’t endorse them for those who are not at risk. All medical decision-making weighs the risk-benefit ratio when determining the best treatment. Across the board thinking – a one size fits all mentality – is no thinking at all!
Unfortunately, many people are increasingly skeptical of vaccines, especially since the development of the Covid vaccines. This is alarming, not only for the good of those people, but for the country as a whole, too.
Allysia Finley, writing in The Wall Street Journal, describes the contrast in political messaging between Republicans and Democrats: “Republicans cheered when Covid-19 vaccines rolled out two years ago. “I think the messaging should be, ‘Get a vaccine because it’s good for you to do it. It works. You’re not going to have to be doing anything abnormal. You can live your life,’” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in April 2021. The message from the Biden administration and public-health officials has been different: Vaccines are safe and effective. Period. Those who don’t trust us should shut up.”
This contrast in messaging has led many to distrust their government and public-health officials – especially conservatives who are generally more distrustful of government. This is not necessarily the correct reaction, but it is understandable.
When vaccines were first developed during the Trump administration against all odds, they were rightly hailed as a great achievement. At the time, thousands were dying daily of this new coronavirus called Covid-19. There was tremendous political pressure to come up with a solution to this pandemic and the Trump administration achieved a great victory when the vaccines were developed in record-breaking time. There was great enthusiasm for the vaccines and skepticism was quite low.
But skepticism has been fueled since that time by overzealous public-health officials who oversold the benefits of vaccines, pushing them on children who are at low risk for serious illness, mandating shots while playing down potential side effects, and smearing those who raise concerns as spreading misinformation. We now know of collusion between the Biden White House and tech companies to suppress any scientific discussion that questioned the public policy statements of this administration.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, once heralded as the world’s leading authority on infectious diseases, was among those who misled the public in May 2021. “When you get vaccinated, you not only protect your own health and that of the family,” he said, “but also you contribute to the community health by preventing the spread of the virus throughout the community.” Fauci may have believed what he was saying, but the vaccine trials didn’t show they prevented transmission. That fact was withheld from the public as an inconvenient truth.
We also didn’t know much when the Covid vaccines were introduced about the extent to which the virus would mutate. But viral mutation was certainly well-known from our experience with other viral infections such as RSV, influenza, and other endemic human coronaviruses including the common cold. Reinfections are common with all these viruses.
To make matters worse, recently released emails reveal that some FDA officials were concerned the agency’s review of Pfizer’s vaccine during the summer of 2021 was being rushed. The vaccine had been authorized for emergency use in December 2020, but full approval requires a significantly more comprehensive examination of safety, efficacy and manufacturing data. Marion Gruber, then director of the FDA’s vaccine research office, warned Acting Commissioner Janet Woodcock in a July 21, 2021, email that the “hyper-accelerated” review would “undermine confidence in the vaccine (and, indeed, in FDA’s credibility).” In hindsight, Gruber was correct.
The FDA reviewed and approved Pfizer’s application in less than a third of the time it takes for a typical drug approval. The Biden administration and many Democratic governors soon imposed vaccine mandates without exceptions for prior infection. They dismissed Americans who cited studies showing the protection offered by natural immunity. This is a clear case of political triumph over scientific understanding by those who pretend to “follow the science.”
As vaccine protection against infection waned, public-health officials pushed boosters despite little evidence that their benefits outweighed the potential safety concerns for healthy young people such as myocarditis. Officials also rushed last summer to roll out vaccines for children, who are at extremely low risk for severe illness. Yet vaccinated toddlers in Pfizer’s trial were more likely to get severely ill with Covid than those who received a placebo! Most kids who developed multiple infections during the trial were vaccinated. These findings warranted closer examination – which did not happen.
The problem we are seeing here is that government elites believe they, and only they, are best equipped to make complex medical decisions for the people and any information that contradicts those decisions should be withheld from the public. Therefore, we should not be surprised when those who distrust government in general make personal decisions that may not be in their own best interests.
Vaccines are a wonderful scientific advancement that have benefited millions and saved millions of lives. But full disclosure of the risks and benefits would go a long way toward re-establishing trust in our public-health officials.
