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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is best known for his years of tireless work to undermine public confidence in vaccines and for repeating long-debunked claims about their health risks. He is a person who exists. The prospect that he will likely be in charge of overall U.S. health care policy is an encouraging prospect. It would be hard to find a more apt symbol for our times, until an arsonist is put in charge of a fire department.
Vaccines, unlike most medicine, are mired in politics. This is evidenced by the reluctance among Republicans to get vaccinated against COVID-19, while Democrats are eager to receive the vaccine. The flu vaccine is currently far more popular among Americans than the COVID-19 vaccine booster, which has become a political symbol in a different way than the flu vaccine.
This is not the first time something like this has happened. The HPV vaccine, which protects against the sexually transmitted disease human papillomavirus and thus cervical cancer, was politically controversial when it was introduced in the United States in 2006. Part of the reason is that HPV is a very common infection, so the vaccine is ideally given to people who are too young to be infected sexually. The prospect of vaccinating an 11-year-old girl in anticipation of her becoming sexually active alarmed some parents. Politicians quickly chimed in and HPV vaccination became a cultural rather than a medical issue.
In fact, vaccine skepticism is older than vaccination itself. It began with opposition to variola (deliberately infecting people with controlled doses of smallpox to confer immunity). The variation worked, but it was dangerous. In the minds of colonial Americans, this idea was hardly honed by the fact that it was imported from enslaved Africans. Preacher Cotton Mather learned about smallpox from his slave Onesimus and advocated the practice in colonial Boston in 1721. Someone threw a bomb through Mother’s window with a note saying, “Mother, you dog.” Damn it, I’ll inoculate you with this. ”The bomb did not explode.
Later, smallpox was prevented by cowpox vaccination, which required applying cow pus to human cuts. It wasn’t very dangerous, but it wasn’t risk-free or particularly appealing either.
Modern vaccines are much safer. But that’s the way it should be. Unlike most medicines, vaccines are given to people who are not sick and do not need treatment. The standards for safety and efficacy are naturally set high.
Despite this, many people remain reluctant. So what should I do? The first principle must be to avoid deepening polarization over vaccines. It’s easy to ridicule or belittle those who seem to reject “science,” but it’s counterproductive. The very fact that so many people decline a COVID-19 booster shot while still seeing their doctor for a flu shot suggests that the label “anti-vaxxer” is unhelpful. Although many people are suspicious of specific vaccines, few avoid vaccines in general.
Second, mainstream media needs to do better, perhaps by taking their own health and science reporters more seriously. Time and time again, the media, which should know better, has amplified horror stories about vaccines. In 2005, Rolling Stone and Salon jointly published a long essay on mercury in vaccines written by none other than Robert F. Kennedy Jr. himself.
It wasn’t until 2011, after repeatedly posting corrections, that Salon decided “the best way to serve our readers was to delete the article altogether.” Despite concerns about misinformation being spread on Facebook and WhatsApp, many of the most harmful myths about the harms of vaccines have been repeated by people. Established media sources.
Third, you need to get the basics right. That means minimizing economic and logistical hurdles that can trip people up on the path to vaccination. Behavioral scientists have long known that seemingly small barriers can loom large, especially when faced with the prospect of a hassle now and a payoff much later. Standard vaccinations should be easy, cheap, and perhaps free.
And getting the basics right also means reaching out to those sitting on the fence. While there will always be people who are unfazed by the topic of vaccination, there is also a larger group who may be put off based on vaguely remembered rumors. With time and training, health professionals can listen to people’s concerns and often persuade people to choose a vaccine by having respectful and informed conversations. Enough to do.
The stakes here are high. Vaccines save lives, but vaccine hesitancy can kill you. In the late 1970s, both Japan and the United Kingdom were hit by concerns over the safety of pertussis vaccines, but when immunization rates collapsed, 41 people died from the disease in Japan and 70 in the United Kingdom.
There are many reasons to be hopeful. The latest vaccines are better than ever before, and the track record of Operation Warp Speed, the signature achievement of the first President Trump, shows that we can develop, test, and deploy new life-saving vaccines with astonishing speed. Reminds me.
So now is the time to treat people as individuals and not as members of tribes, for stronger and more accurate journalism from mass media, and for respectful dialogue with those with whom we disagree. This applies to communication about vaccines, and it applies to life as well. It is truly a symbol of our times.
