Recently, the President began a push to stop the spread of COVID 19 vaccination misinformation on social media. But these efforts ignore the basic understanding of how humans think. We gather facts and create a story. This story allows us to form an opinion and then gather evidence to support it. Misinformation is frequently used to validate, more often than to form opinions.
A source of vaccine distrust has been the spread of too much information (I am guilty of that). The earliest vaccines were created using a novel technology and people feared that the methodology was risky (even though the data indicates that it is safer than traditional vaccines).
Those who spread disinformation weave unrelated facts into a false narrative. We have heard the ridiculous misinformation (COVID vaccine has a microchip, the vaccine causes COVID 19); but the more effective misinformation uses fears that people already have (e.g., vaccination, inadequate testing, DNA and mRNA technology).
One of the Disinformation Dozens (as these key influencers are called) relies on the debunked myth that vaccines cause autism and therefore vaccines are dangerous. When the link between autism and vaccinations was first postulated, it was a reasonable hypothesis. Autism symptoms often appear at the age when children are vaccinated, and it was belatedly recognized that children were being given too much of a mercury-based preservative. However, multiple studies concluded there was no link.
In fact, vaccines have saved us. Polio and smallpox have been effectively eradicated in the US because of vaccines. Deaths and long term health problems from hepatitis, diphtheria, measles, or mumps have been dramatically reduced.
Scientists believe that vaccinations will reduce or eliminate COVID infections and could effectively eradicate or disable the virus. If people consider the common good, we will not have a repeat of COVID 19 2020.
Unfortunately, current vaccination trends enable this virus to mutate, making everyone susceptible to a more dangerous variant. Our children are the most impacted because vaccines are not yet available to children under 12. COVID 19 is not yet a significant threat to children; but new variants could be and could result in another year of school closures. Our tireless and weary healthcare workers should not have to be continuously exposed to this virus because people fail to consider the needs of others.
Officials trying to debunk vaccination myths are searching for influencers to spread accurate information. Lately, leaders have been trying to “shame” people into getting vaccinated.
What if we took a more radical approach and started using the carrot and the stick? (The NFL, NYC, and California are taking this approach.)
It is every person’s right to refuse to be vaccinated. But they do not have the right to infect others. What if we made it harder to be unvaccinated than to be vaccinated? What if we prohibited the unvaccinated from being in public spaces: supermarkets, churches, concert events, bars, and restaurants? What if we were required to show a vaccination certificate to attend an event with more than 25 people? Of course, there are logistical issues, and it would be easy for people to create fake IDs. But the threat of prohibition may be the “stick” that we need to make the world safer.
I know that this idea is unpopular and politically untenable. I expect to hear both “communism” or “socialism” accusations as well as “individual liberties” defenses. Yet, those who refuse to be vaccinated are impinging on everyone’s rights. Why is the right to refuse a vaccine more important than the rights of our children and even the basic right to live?
After all, the first freedom in the Constitution is the right to life, then liberty, then the pursuit of happiness.
Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.
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