2022-02-07 – We had a conversation with a COVID vaccine “skeptic.” This person is not an anti-vaxxer. She and her family are vaccinated. But she’s “done.” She doesn’t want anymore boosters.

Why? Because Big Pharma is raking in billions. That’s a persuasive argument in our country: obscene profits by Big Pharma.

I’m not crazy about Big Pharma’s underserved profits either. But let’s look at the other side of the coin. What profits does Big Pharma stand to make if you don’t take the vaccine and get sick. Big Pharma has products to sell to sick people, too. Big Pharma has both sides covered.

Anti-vaxxers don’t want you to think about that.

And the politicians who support anti-vaxxers don’t want you to apply the same reasoning to other industries.

What kind of demands might arise if we got riled by the obscene profits of Big Agriculture? We certainly aren’t refusing to eat food.

What kind of demands might arise if we got riled by the obscene profits of Big Oil? We certainly aren’t refusing to drive our cars.

What kind of demands might arise if we got riled by the obscene profits of Silicon Valley and the Big Media? We certainly aren’t cutting our addiction to social media (or network news or cable news or entertainment).

What kind of demands might arise if we got riled by the obscene profits of Big Religion? We certainly aren’t throwing away our keys to heaven.

Heads, I win . . . there is no other side of the coin.

You’d think that skeptics might want a little peek at the other side of the coin. That omission is why I call them “skeptics.”

So, to you “skeptics,” I want to say that you are right to be concerned about the profits of Big Pharma and all the rest. But there are other ways to express your concern than refusing to take a potentially life-saving vaccine. That’s not the choice. Your refusal will have zero impact on their profits and you could lose your life or the life of a loved one. For what?

UPDATE:

Interestingly, skepticism (or lack of trust) has been identified as a factor, across the world, leading to higher infection or death rates from COVID. Shortly after posting today’s blog, I found Ezra Klein’s op-ed in the New York Times, entitled The Covid Policy That Really Mattered Wasn’t a Policy, that tries to figure out what government policies explains different public health outcomes in different countries. It turns out that one of the most significant predictors was the degree to which citizens trust their governments and their fellow citizens.

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