NEW YORK CITY (October 16, 2020) – Two days ago, Governor Andrew Cuomo held a media briefing by phone during which he made the point that the state will vet the efficacy and safety of any coronavirus vaccine that is proposed for distribution. OK, though it’s not clear why members of the public should trust the state’s recommendation any more than they may trust/mistrust the federal government’s recommendation. Beyond that, he made two misstatements that reveal a fundamental misunderstanding of why many people will not want to be vaccinated and the potential consequences for public health.
The first misstatement: “You will have a group of people – they call themselves anti-vaxxers – who will say ‘We’re not taking the vaccine.’” In general usage, “anti-vaxxers” is a pejorative term, meant as a put down of people who are either broadly against vaccination (“anti-vaccine”) or who experience “vaccine hesitancy,” meaning they are reluctant to take a vaccine – often, a specific vaccine – but may be persuaded to do so at some point. Neither group calls themselves anti-vaxxers.
The second misstatement: “It means you’ll have ongoing small flare-ups of Covid.” Totally false. There is no evidence to say that someone who does not get a vaccine will spread Covid. To do so, they would have to first contract Covid. Not being vaccinated does not mean you will definitively get ill, as so many of us know from months of exposure with no vaccine up until now. So, unvaccinated people will not be responsible for flare-ups, small or otherwise.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which Governor Cuomo obviously respects, makes it clear, taking the flu vaccine as an example, that even if you do get vaccinated, you can still get the flu, and by extension, even if you get vaccinated, you can still get Covid. That’s because multiple factors enter into how an individual responds – or doesn’t respond – to a vaccine, including the viral strain, the individual’s immune system, timing of the vaccine (i.e., you may already be infected) and the fact that all vaccines vary in how well they work.
As Governor Cuomo likes to say, these are facts. People may not take a Covid vaccine because they don’t trust it, don’t want to trigger their immune system any more than it is being triggered naturally, have experienced adverse reactions in the past, whatever. This should be an individual’s choice. Lumping them into a category is prejudice and stereotyping.
And, vaccines do not provide complete immunity to a disease; they do not completely protect an individual, though they may reduce certain risks, and they do not completely protect others. So don’t scapegoat people who refuse to be vaccinated or attribute outbreaks to them. That’s plain wrong.
If you have information related to pandemic requirements or a story to tell about how you are being impacted, email: marilynn@hotindienews.com
