Covid19 Vaccine

As the SARS-CoV2 pandemic continues to blight nations and communities across the world, affecting developing nations and major powers alike, the scientific community has produced not one, but two highly effective vaccines against the Coronavirus. A moment should be taken by all those who will undoubtedly benefit from this to appreciate what a monumental breakthrough this is for science; two vaccines have been developed in record time for a disease that was unknown to the world less than a year ago. The vaccines have been developed by private sector pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Moderna respectively, and orders are being placed by nations all around the world. The UK has already ordered some five-million doses from Moderna of their vaccine, and six-thousand volunteers are currently undergoing stage three trials to test the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness before it is released to the British public via the NHS.

The history of mis-information

The whole world has breathed a sigh of relief at this most welcome news. Both companies have reported that their vaccines are ninety-five percent effective against the virus. However, there will be political obstacles to overcome for nations to procure the vaccines and get them into circulation. There is a growing movement in the developed world that vehemently questions the validity of scientific knowledge relating to vaccines, and more and more people are rejecting even the idea of taking a vaccine. There has been opposition to vaccines for as long as they have existed; in the 1800s, when smallpox vaccinations were being prescribed en mass, there was widespread scepticism of the new medical breakthrough. To be fair to those who resisted the first iterance of vaccines, it did involve lymph from a cowpox blister being inserted into a fresh wound. Any parent who was ignorant of the science behind this strange new medical procedure would be within their rights to protest the thought of their child being treated in this way. However, the first vaccine did save thousands from the smallpox pandemic, and has given way to the medical miracle of modern vaccines.

The modern anti-vaxx phenomenon

As far as anyone can make out, the modern “anti-vaxx” movement began in 1998, with bogus claims from British doctor Andrew Wakefield that the newly developed MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine led to bowel disease and autism. These claims had no evidence to back them up, scientific or otherwise, but inflammatory as they were, they were quickly picked up by the media, and medical journal The Lancet even published a paper by Wakefield where he argued his case further, causing widespread scepticism in the general population surrounding the new vaccine. It was later revealed that Wakefield had been paid by lawyers representing parents who believed their children had been harmed by the vaccine to spread this misinformation, and he was subsequently struck from the medical register. Several tests have been conducted into possible links between the MMR vaccine (and numerous other popular vaccines) and autism, but no evidence has as yet been found.

The so-called ‘Plandemic’

The allegations that vaccines cause autism have since snowballed into a wider conspiracy theory that governments are using the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse to introduce mandatory vaccines, and that the vaccines will somehow allow governments to exercise greater control over the population. Hair-brained theories involving Bill Gates and microchips in the vaccines are how these people believe the government will “control” them, which I will not entertain in this article. A significant amount of these “anti-vaxxers” also think that the Covid-19 pandemic is a hoax used by governments to control people, that masks reduce natural immunity to the disease, that social distancing is a tool to keep people emotionally isolated, and so on. None of these claims have any evidence to support them, and even as I’m writing this, I am wondering how stupid does someone have to be to believe any of these theories?

Zero evidence

The lack of evidence seems to embolden those who believe these lies, as they also believe that governments are involved in internet and media censorship to keep “the truth” away from people. For a Covid-19 vaccine to be effective in crippling the virus’s spread, at least seventy percent of the population need to be immunised with a vaccine. The proportion of the global population who subscribe to these lies is estimated to be below ten percent, so a vaccine would still be effective if it were to be released now, but this number is estimated to have grown extremely rapidly in the last decade, as bogus articles and unfounded information spread uncontrollably via the internet, where it can be accessed by impressionable people extremely easily. The United States has the highest amount of vaccine scepticism, with only thirty-six percent of people saying they would take a Covid-19 vaccine as soon as it became available. The irony here is particularly bitter, as the US has the highest proportion of deaths per capita from the pandemic, and is currently experiencing a third spike in virus cases owing to the mismanagement of the pandemic by the Trump administration. The incoming Biden administration has announced plans that will be exponentially more effective at controlling the pandemic, but if a not-insignificant portion of Americans refuse the vaccine, then the spread of the virus may still go unchecked in many communities.

The growth of conspiracy theories

The “anti-vaxx” community is part of larger group of people who widely and voraciously consume these unfounded conspiracy theories, and question everything they see and hear produced by mainstream media or politicians. The best and most obvious example of this group are the fans of incumbent president Trump (and I say “fans” because no other political following would be as loyal as Trump’s is in the face of more scandal and controversy than any other politician in history), who have consumed and spread his lies of endemic voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election despite a resounding lack of proof. Not only are these claims quite obviously complete lies, but every piece of litigation the president has brought to prove his allegations has been thrown out of court due to lack of evidence. Despite this, those who think he is right still believe everything he says about the election. This trend of believing every theory that runs counter to popular knowledge even in the face of no evidence, simply because it validates unfounded beliefs, has the potential to become extremely dangerous. If a more significant portion of the population, say, the entire traditional voter base of right-wing parties, were to think like this, then the integrity of the environment, global democracy, scientific knowledge, public health, and who knows what other institutions, will be in serious danger of fading into obscurity in the face of the new “truth”.

stay safe

/e