Move Along “Anti-Vaxxers”, Rushed COVID Vaccine Spurts “Vaccine-Hesitans”
August 27th, 2020
For the most part, people fall under one of two categories in regard to vaccinations; either strongly for or against them, the latter being referred to as “anti-vaxxers.” Though their movement has been protesting the use of vaccinations for years, more and more people are joining their side as hesitations regarding the marketing of a COVID vaccine are mounting. “Vaccine hesitant” is the term now being used to describe someone who is not completely against vaccines, but rather doubts their safety.
Even those who claim to be on the pro side have growing fears about the development of a vaccine as they feel it is happening too soon. Usually, the FDA requires data showing safety and efficacy from phase I-IV clinical trials prior to granting approval for marketing, a process that can span up to a decade. Now, it seems like there will be a COVID vaccine ready for use in the USA within months of the virus hitting. This hastiness has brought up safety and trust concerns.
Fear of Vaccine Being Used As Political Prop
The number of people switching to the anti-vaxxer side of the coin are not strictly limited to those with a strong aversion towards big pharma. Some speculate that the rush to develop a vaccine is due to the upcoming US presidential elections in November. The vaccine has the potential to be heralded as a political victory for President Trump, maybe even converting democratic votes. As seen below, in a poll hosted by Yahoo News, over 50% of self-reported “Democrats” would get vaccinated, compared to fewer than 40% of self-reported “Republicans”.
Anti-vaxxers seem to be tilting the balance in their favour
Anti-vaxxers are noticing the shift in mentality in those who were once pro vaccination and using this weakness to prey on them. With everything going on in the world right now, tensions are at an all-time and disputes about differing opinions are only increasing. Arguments made against vaccinations range from COVID not posing a risk to young healthy individuals, the distrust towards big pharma and even conspiracy theories are being used to sway their targets.
Pro-vaccine side needs to win back votes to provide herd immunity
Public health experts fear that the percentage of people who will get the vaccine is not high enough to achieve herd immunity (when vaccination levels in a community are high enough to provide non-immunized individuals with indirect protection from disease.) A strong argument proving the necessity of a vaccine against COVID is needed before the anti-vax community takes over and leaves individuals with the risk of getting the virus up to chance.
