Now that anyone in this part of the country who wants a COVID vaccine can get one, the difficulty has switched from having to wait to get a shot to convincing the still-unvaccinated to get theirs. We need to achieve herd immunity in order to protect people who truly can’t get vaccinated due to medical issues, and to try to stop the spread of the more deadly and contagious variants, like the ones currently ravaging India as the virus spreads and mutates through millions of hosts.
Some people truly don’t realize how easy getting a shot is, after initial months of long lines and confusing appointment processes. If you are talking to one of them, please help them get vaccinated.
From there, we have to move on to convincing the “vaccine hesitant.” Paradoxically, the people who have been screaming the loudest about wanting life to return to normal are often the most hesitant to take the easiest step to resuming normal life. The people who insist COVID is no big deal seem to be the ones most worried about the potential side effects, which are mainly a day or so of mild symptoms.
We have to convince people to get a shot, as many of them are being bombarded with propaganda to convince them otherwise. And you aren’t going to get someone to change by calling them a moron, even if they are getting medical advice from people like Tucker Carlson or Alex Jones (who have both argued in court that no reasonable person should believe anything said on their shows).
The reason reactionary propaganda is so effective is that it tells people, “You are smarter than everyone else. Your conditioned knee-jerk opinions are wiser than anything any expert says.” So, during a pandemic, we waste time debating about masks and vaccines instead of paid sick leave and universal healthcare.
It doesn’t matter that the talking heads think their audience are idiots, and are willing to get some of them killed if it means they can continue complaining about lockdowns and masks. They disguise their contempt. They’re telling the audience they’re smart. If you’re standing on the other side calling them an idiot, who do you think they’ll listen to?
To get a reluctant person vaccinated, so we can all move forward, we’re going to have to roll up our sleeves and engage them as a rational person, even if you have to address talking points they pulled from YouTube videos. YouTube is successful because anyone can find confirmation bias for pretty much any belief there. If you want to believe the Earth is flat or the secret to good health is drinking your own urine or even that Donald Trump won the 2020 election, there are videos affirming your opinion. When someone is describing their vaccine concerns using their Fox News, YouTube, and meme-based “research,” we’re going to have to bite our tongue and address these points of view as serious concerns.
Blood clots? The risk from a vaccine is literally one in a million — infinitesimal compared to actually getting COVID.
You can still catch COVID after being vaccinated? There is no guarantee with any vaccine. That’s why herd immunity is crucial. The vaccines are amazingly effective at making sure you won’t get a case that requires hospitalization. They even guard against the variants hitting people who have already had COVID.
Why take a vaccine for a disease 98 percent of people survive? Most of us are vaccinated for a lot of diseases we’d probably survive: mumps, measles, rubella, tetanus, hepatitis A and B. But why suffer through something that’s easily preventable?
Worried about unknown long-term effects and don’t want to be a “guinea pig”? Go read firsthand accounts of COVID long-haulers, those suffering the unknown long-term effects that have doctors and scientists terrified.
A lot of formerly healthy workers are COVID long-haulers who no longer have the stamina for service industry jobs. When people complain that “no one wants to work anymore,” they’re probably referring to those jobs, which require constant hustling on your feet. No one wants to do that for wages that won’t pay their bills.
The service industry spent a year on the pandemic front lines, often dealing with a belligerent, unmasked public. A lot of people got fed up and changed careers. Remember the protestors a year ago demanding everything reopen immediately with signs like, “I need a haircut” and “I want a margarita”? Now they’re mad about the shortage of workers they once deemed expendable.
Craig David Meek is the author of Memphis Barbecue: A Succulent History of Smoke, Sauce & Soul.
