Vaccines and Trust

by Raymond Morris, ©2021

(Feb. 8, 2021) — Various polls indicate that roughly a third of Americans are not planning to get the COVID-19 vaccination. Why does a portion of the population have mistrust of the vaccinations which are being pushed to control the COVID pandemic and its cultural disruptions? There are several components to these concerns.

First, for any vaccine, there are side effects that impact a small percentage of the population.  You can consider these to be similar to the list of side effects on TV commercials indicating various prescription drugs have a risk of making some people worse.  In light of the benefits to the general population of controlling a deadly disease, health specialists consider an additional risk to a few people to be insignificant.  However, to those who get the side effects but may never have gotten the disease, it was individually a bad decision.

Another factor is the idea that vaccines appear to have a history of causing autism or other childhood disabilities.  While this has been denied for years, it is quite possible that these denials are merely protection against class action lawsuits.  So, although the previous use of stabilizers such as mercury has ceased (I would hope), the fact that no one has ever publicly stated “we found the problem and fixed it” leaves the question unanswered as to whether vaccines could still cause such childhood disabilities.  The industry seems to be caught in its own lie.  Having lost the trust of many who personally know, or have heard of, those who had life-altering side effects, it is no wonder that some parents have a mistrust of vaccinating their children.

Another factor leading to distrust are the sci-fi movies where vaccines were used for unstated purposes, such as sterilization for population control or for implanting chips for tracking.  One is left to wonder whether these tales are the result of a writer’s over-active imagination or are prophetic concerning the tendency that if science can accomplish something, no matter how ill-advised, policy-makers will ultimately test its use.  Isn’t that the basis for the theory that COVID-19 came from a Chinese biomedical research lab?

So, what is the solution to this resistance so many people have to accepting the vaccine? 

There has been little public discussion of its side effects, or of the difference between the Pfizer and  Moderna vaccines, as well as the other brands of vaccines that may soon also be available.  People are not being given enough information to let them have a choice.  We are just being told to take whatever is available as a national security issue, and are being assured that all will be well once we do.  However, it doesn’t help when government officials say that you will need to keep wearing a mask and doing social distancing even for months after getting the vaccination.  With so little trust in what the news wants us to believe and in the ever-changing government mandates for masks, remote learning, school reopenings and closings, forced church closings, and limits on who can come to your personal Thanksgiving or Superbowl party, confidence in what we are being told is pretty low.

It doesn’t help that at the same time, Trump supporters are being censored for even mentioning voter irregularities.  At this point why would anyone believe anything the government or news media has to say?

I am not a specialist in these things.  I cannot say with certainty which of those concerns about vaccines are true, partially true or merely urban legends.  But I do know that the history of stifling discussion about climate change by calling them “deniers” has not worked.  It won’t work for voting irregularities and it won’t work for vaccines.  If people know they are being lied to, they will ultimately assume that everything they are told is a lie.

If you know your history, this is what Stalin and Mao did.  But remember, they also imprisoned or killed the opposition who openly refused to accept the lie or the subsequent re-education camps.

Government policy in a totalitarian state is like “The Borg” – “Resistance is futile.  You will be assimilated.”

However, I am told that the “underground church” is a major growth industry in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

Raymond Morris is a retired civil servant from a “blue” state with a desire to help people think with a biblical worldview concerning current events.