COVID vaccines: time to confront anti-vax aggression
Posted on
Nearly one billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have been delivered in less than six months, but anti-vaccine disinformation and targeted attacks on scientists are undermining progress. These threats must be confronted directly, and the authority and expertise of the health community alone aren’t enough to do this.
Efforts must expand into the realm of cyber security, law enforcement, public education and international relations. A high-level inter-agency task force reporting to the UN secretary-general could assess the full impact of anti-vaccine aggression, and propose tough, balanced measures. The task force should include experts who have tackled complex global threats such as terrorism, cyber attacks and nuclear armament, because anti-science is now approaching similar levels of peril. It is becoming increasingly clear that advancing immunization requires a counteroffensive.
Vaccine incentives don t need to convince everyone
Today s best articles
Daily business briefing
Solving COVID newsletter
That s the thinking of New Jersey, anyway, where Gov. Phil Murphy (D) this week announced a new program to incentivize state residents to get their shots by offering them a brew on the house. The focus of the drive is to get as many new vaccinations as possible, a spokesperson for the governor told ABC News. And as the pace of vaccinations continues to decline, more and more states are considering similar carrots in order to get their populations over that all-important hump of 70 to 80 percent to reach herd immunity.
When people are clamoring for vaccines in India and in Brazil, it just makes us look like a nation of sulky adolescents. … So if it s absolutely necessary, sure, although it s tough to swallow, said Hotez, who is the dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine.
The pace of vaccinations has been slipping nationwide. The U.S. is averaging about 2.3 million shots per day, which is down 32% from the peak last month, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The federal government is changing vaccine allocation strategies across the country amid the slowing pace of vaccinations. States can turn down doses that they don t need and the shots will be redistributed to areas with higher demand.
When people are clamoring for vaccines in India and in Brazil, it just makes us look like a nation of sulky adolescents. … So if it s absolutely necessary, sure, although it s tough to swallow, said Hotez, who is the dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine.
The pace of vaccinations has been slipping nationwide. The U.S. is averaging about 2.3 million shots per day, which is down 32% from the peak last month, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The federal government is changing vaccine allocation strategies across the country amid the slowing pace of vaccinations. States can turn down doses that they don t need and the shots will be redistributed to areas with higher demand.
When people are clamoring for vaccines in India and in Brazil, it just makes us look like a nation of sulky adolescents. … So if it s absolutely necessary, sure, although it s tough to swallow, said Hotez, who is the dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine.
The pace of vaccinations has been slipping nationwide. The U.S. is averaging about 2.3 million shots per day, which is down 32% from the peak last month, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The federal government is changing vaccine allocation strategies across the country amid the slowing pace of vaccinations. States can turn down doses that they don t need and the shots will be redistributed to areas with higher demand.