Our editorial makes the case that Covid-19 is going to be with us forever, and so we can no longer allow it to rule our lives and allow for the so-called emergency measures meant to “slow the spread” to become permanent fixtures. We also argue that at this point, with nearly 9 billion doses of Covid vaccines having been administered, they have been proven to be safe, as well as effective, in greatly reducing the chances of somebody getting severely sick.
But those of us in the pro-vaccine camp have to acknowledge there’s a big problem with messaging.
Early on, clinical studies showed that the vaccines were around 95 percent effective at preventing infection. Biden even said at a town hall in July that, “You’re not going to get Covid if you have these vaccinations.” But now, as a result of mutations as well as waning efficacy after a few months, we know that this is not true. Now that proponents are focusing on the ability of vaccines to prevent severe disease, it sounds to skeptics a lot like goal-post shifting.
There are people who were skeptical of the vaccine to begin with, fearing long-term effects of a new technology. Now it turns out that lots of vaccinated people, including probably friends of theirs, still are getting Covid. From their perspective, their skepticism of the vaccines has been vindicated. So the hurdle to convincing them to get vaccinated has become that much higher — especially given that staying current with vaccination now means getting boosted every six months. Essentially, at the same time that the benefits of vaccination are lower than initially sold, the costs are higher. The vaccine pitch is even harder when targeting those who are young and relatively healthy and statistically at low risk of severe Covid to begin with.
There is value in continuing to make the case that on net, the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks. But those of us who support vaccination need to understand what we’re up against.