anti-vaccine demonstrators  (Credit: Irfan Khan, Los Angeles Times) 

                                 Us and Covid 19 and the Vaccine in Between

 

The resistance to being vaccinated against Covid that we are seeing now among the public in many countries all over the world is discouraging to put the matter mildly. The consensus among scientists who study epidemics, viruses, and other related branches of medicine is overwhelming. Vaccines are the way for us to turn the corner on this disease and to save thousands, maybe millions, of lives. But people being what they are – i.e.  prone to confirmation bias – some will resist any measure recommended for the public good anywhere, by anyone, at any time. And there are still people in Western nations like Canada, Britain, and the US getting vaccinated, though the daily rate of new recipients of the vaccine has dwindled to a trickle.

But we need not despair. The problem is sad and scary, but not hopeless.

There is a light at the end of this tunnel, which is a sort of oncoming train, but it is a train that is going to miss most of us because by the time that it gets up to us, the tunnel will be wide enough for us to get out of its way. Only those who obstinately stand on the track and insist that there is no train are going to get injured or killed.

Now, what is my metaphor supposed to signify?

I’ve given up on arguing with vaccine resisters. I have even given up on simply referring them to informative, reliable websites.

Why? Because they are reminding me more and more as the days go by of the arguments non-smokers used to have with smokers about four decades ago. Those debates did sometimes get heated. Tobacco is not an illegal substance even now, though some cancer victims and their families have argued that it should be. But it wasn’t illegal then, and it isn’t illegal now.

On the other hand, the research linking smoking to cancer was well-established and widely known all those decades ago. Back to the 1960s.

But still the arguments about anyone’s right to smoke in any public space went on, getting more and more vitriolic as more and more research, particularly research into the effects of second-hand smoke, came out.

And then, quite suddenly, the arguments all but vanished.

Now, I don’t have any statistics or studies to quote. I only have my experience with a wide circle of family, friends, and fellow workers. But it seemed very clear to me what had happened.

As the years went by – not that many of them really – I realized that the people I used to argue with were nearly all dead. Most of them way before their time. Of cancer or other smoking-related diseases.

Just a subjective impression, but I think the vaccines that protect us against Covid are going to win out in a similar way. Those who are dying of it now in all parts of the world are almost all unvaccinated adults.

This would not be a compassionate, respectful way to win an argument, but it’s very persuasive.

Please don’t be a fatality of obstinacy.

                      young female smoker (credit: publicdomainpictures.net)