Vaccine Mandates: Biden & Dems Hypocrites?

[Belsnickel]

(01-23-2022, 06:42 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: I honestly don't think you disagree with it as much as you think.  We both agree getting the vaccine is important.  We both agree that it will minimize your symptoms if you are infected post vaccine.  We both agree that being vaccinated means you are far less likely to transmit the virus if you are infected.  All of these things are important.  None of these things detract from my point.  I think you're conflating my, fact based, statements with those who claim the vaccine is worthless or even dangerous.  We can all admit the shortcomings of the vaccine without throwing our lot in with the anti-vax crowd.  That's the type of black and white view of this subject that is significantly fueling the resistance to the vaccine in the first place.  You can acknowledge the vaccine's efficacy at the same time you admit to its shortcomings.  Failure to do so really only gives the other side ammunition.

As to your second part, yes.  It's someone I like, and I don't have an issue with their position.  But their misinterpretation of mine has been disconcerting.

I think my issue is that you can admit the shortcomings of the vaccine, but there is a lot of misinformation about what those shortcomings are. Your statement that it "not not stop you from either getting or transmitting the virus" struck me as misinformation given the data we have showing that it does do that in many cases. Because each person's system is a little different it will act in different ways it won't perform the same for everyone or every strain of the virus. So you saying that it does not do that when the evidence shows otherwise struck me as misinformed.

There are a lot of things said about the vaccines by both the pro- and anti-vax crowds that just aren't rooted in the evidence either from misunderstandings or just blatant lies. By spreading this misinformation, whether intentionally or not, we also give ammunition to the anti-vax crowd.

This is one of those times where what I like to focus my efforts on comes in handy. Interdisciplinary approaches to public policy efforts. What this means is that you can still have the epidemiologists looking at what we need to do and all that, but we need social scientists to be a part of the conversation to help spread the message. Most people don't understand the biology of things. They aren't going to read a NEMJ article about the efficacy of the vaccine. We need policy crafted that people will actually understand and follow. Granted, that is made even more difficult in the current climate where the default position of any politician is to be against whatever the people in the other party are saying, but we can try, dammit!