Vaccine hesitancy is not new. When the smallpox vaccine was discovered, many were hesitant to receive one. Some worried about side effects, while others mistrusted the agencies that told them about the vaccine's effectiveness.
However, by the 1960s, vaccines were employed against diseases like smallpox, diphtheria, polio, measles, and mumps. Soon, those diseases were eradicated. Yet, vaccine hesitancy increased when a scientifically proven inaccurate paper was published in 1998. As a result of the article, vaccine hesitancy surged.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, the medical community didn’t have vaccines to protect or prevent people from the illness. Globally, researchers pursued ideas to find a safe, effective vaccine. The first two vaccines the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorizations to were those developed by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created a web resource page to provide updated information about vaccines and boosters. While some people embraced the vaccines, others were unsure about them.
Those who remained unsure wondered about the safety of the vaccines or if there were severe side effects after receiving a shot. Despite numerous studies finding that the vaccines are safe and effective, some continued to be hesitant about getting a COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr. Danielle Ofri, an internist at Bellevue Hospital and professor at New York University, explains, “People have seen reports about the side effects of vaccines. The COVID-19 vaccine studies are carried out in an environment of unprecedented scrutiny. It seems impossible to imagine a large-scale hiding of the results.”
In addition to the research as well as the continued monitoring and updating of COVID-19 vaccines, there are other reasons to reconsider hesitancy.
The next few months include significant holidays. You may host, attend, or travel to various get-togethers during this time. You may not know who carries the COVID-19 virus’s variants among the gatherings. If you are unprotected, your chance of getting COVID-19 increases, and almost 97% of unvaccinated adults are more likely to die from the virus.
Getting sick isn’t fun. If you have pre-existing conditions, becoming ill can lead to severe side effects like