Anti-vaxers dug in deep

When I was a kid I didn’t care much for broccoli. As I recall, neither did most of my friends. 

Mom didn’t serve it very often, if I remember correctly. Sometimes it would be raw, and sometimes cooked. But I didn’t like it either way. 

Mom tried all the standard ploys to encourage me to eat it. It had plenty of nutrition and vitamins. It would strengthen my bones. I might not get dessert if I didn’t try it. I usually resisted all the arguments.

As I matured, my tastes changed, and broccoli started to have some appeal. Before too long it was part of my regular diet, and remains so today, along with spinach, cauliflower and other vegetables I spurned as a child.

The point of all this is this: the more they wheedled me to try broccoli, the stiffer I resisted. Antagonism to broccoli became part of who I was. 

I think the same thing is going on with a lot of folks’ resistance to COVID-19 vaccination. 

They weren’t in any hurry to get a shot when it first became available. Then they started to resent being told to get it by government officials and health experts. Then they grew defensive at the insinuation that they were ignorant or backward. Then social media, conservative politicians and right-wing networks spread rumors that vaccines were a big-government plot to control their lives. 

And now they’re dug so deep into the anti-vax movement that they’re very unlikely to change their mind.

It’s a lot like my anti-broccoli childhood. Except the consequences are much more threatening. 

First off, other foodstuffs could provide me with nutrition substitutes for broccoli. That’s not the case with COVID-19 vaccine — there’s no alternative. 

Secondly, whether I ate broccoli or not had no health effect on other people. But if you’re unvaccinated, you’re a danger to all those around you who, like you, remain unprotected.

Finally, although Mom was disappointed that I didn’t eat my broccoli, I didn’t significantly endanger my health then or in the future. I didn’t potentially lie in an emergency room hooked up to artificial breathing equipment, creating deep anxiety for those who love me, with death maybe on my horizon.

Given the gravity of COVID-19, the spread of wild rumors about the disease and its vaccines is truly unforgivable. The internet abounds with them. 

Here are a few of the falsehoods: The vaccine will alter your DNA. It contains microchip surveillance technology. Dr. Fauci will personally profit from it. It causes infertility. It contains aborted human fetal tissue. It will turn people into monkeys. Food stamps will be denied to those who refuse to be vaccinated. 

Had enough? 

Here are some more: It will result in female sterilization. An Alabama vaccine recipient died hours after receiving it. The vaccines violate the Nuremberg Code about medical experiments on people without their consent. Hank Aaron and boxer Marvin Hagler died from the vaccine. The vaccines are not kosher because they contain pork products. 

How about some more?

Try these: The vaccine can cause cancer. It increases the risk of a miscarriage. Life insurance won’t pay benefits to anyone who dies after being vaccinated because the vaccines are experimental.  Vaccines pose a risk of blood clots on airline flights.

And my personal favorite: The vaccine can magnetize people.

There’s some evidence, according to polls, that Republicans are less likely than Democrats to seek vaccination. I don’t doubt the data, but it doesn’t make sense. Former President Donald Trump takes credit for vaccine development.

Four months ago, in an interview on Fox News, Trump said the following about vaccination:

“I would recommend it, and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don’t want to get it. And a lot of those people voted for me, frankly. But, you know, again, we have our freedoms and we have to live by that, and I agree with that also. But it’s a great vaccine, it’s a safe vaccine, and it’s something that works.”

Coronavirus vaccine isn’t a political elixir. It’s an admirable success developed in record short time by thousands of researchers and proved to protect against the disease. 

Americans need to recall how eagerly the nation signed up its children to receive the polio vaccine starting in the 1950s, and to replicate that desire with the COVID vaccine in the 21st century.