My second dose - Covid19 Vaccine
Content
A) Varied reactions to the Covid19 vaccine
B) Three suggestions to create more trust in our contemporary societies
C) Conclusion
A) Varied reactions to the Covid19 vaccine
This August 3rd 2021, I took my second dose of the Covid19 vaccine. When I announced on May 20, 2021 that I had taken my first dose of the vaccine, I received many calls and text messages. While few of the calls/messages were from people who wanted to inquire on how they could also get the vaccine, many where from all my vaccine skeptics’ friends and family members. Their questions and concerns could be summarized by an insinuation that we could not trust the vaccine!
When I asked for the reason why we could not trust the vaccine, their answers depended on whom you asked. They ranged from the overly prudent to the fully-fledged conspiracy theorists with all other views and theories in between the two extremes.
Could it be possible that the skeptics are right? If yes, what could be the implication for the world? And more urgently, what could be their alternative? And once we get the alternative, how are we going to know that we could trust it? Is there a body or group of people who will vet and assure people that they could trust this time? Could we not fall in the trap that we want to run from?
These questions and many more in the history of science and especially medical science still remain without satisfying answers.
From the dawn of time, there has always been a permanent skepticism between the leaders with their official communication and the people with their many and sometimes contradicting views and explanations. We, living in 2021, are not the first ones to see fishy things with our leaders and their actions.
Being human and knowing what human beings are capable off, you don’t need to search very far to find unbelievable stories on how a whole nation can be misled, manipulated, exploited, sold etc. by people in leadership. What has changed in the last few years is that this suspicion with people in leadership and management has expanded to the last remaining trust worthy institutions including the health system, Religious institutions and the clergy, even local leaders.
I think that given the times we are living in, this generalized skepticism could actually be a good thing as more and more people develop critical thinking. The question is where do we draw the line between critical thinking with conspiracy, fear, manipulation and power struggles?
As humanity faces one of its greatest challenges, and as governments loose more and more power on the choices of people, we will need to agree on how then we continue living from here on.
B) Three suggestions to create more trust in our contemporary societies
Let me suggest three things that can help create more trust among us and help us achieve great things together.
1. Uncompromising transparency: Most innovation happens in secret. This secrecy is actually an integral part of the process of innovation. Could we be able to innovation in the open? With comments and questions from people who don’t even understand what is being done? While creating new things requires some high level of secrecy and even isolation, it at the same time gives room to many speculations in the public. I think that companies, government and institutions could help a lot in being utterly transparent on what is happening. Rumors are always born in the absence of information as the brain tries to fill the information gap. What if this information could be given progressively making sure everyone is in the loop? Some people may find this to be a ridiculous suggestion but I’ve observed that some companies and institutions are experimenting with this in all fields. NGO are beginning to show where every dollar goes and even committing to sharing key information with the beneficiary population. The aerospace industry is also pushing the idea seriously. And I’m sure that there are many others but my issue is that this information is not making to the people who need to hear it. Could we commit to uncompromising transparency not only with the curious and interested but also with people from all walks of life?
2. Opinion acceptance standards: Could we agree on what is an acceptable opinion? Established government, institutions and companies would even wonder about the point of this question as they we think: We are the authorized voice!
While this may be true, a disturbing question is what happens when your voice is no longer trusted and people are developing alternative sources of information? I have no idea how these standards could be agreed on in practice but I strongly believe that every idea should be tested. The big question is how. Science has its agreed methods of proving something: repeated observation and lab testing. What method could we use for opinions and ideas which are created in billions every minute? Should we ignore them and hope that they will go away? My answer is NO.
3. Strong and wide spread whistleblowing policies and follow up: We should have whistleblowers at every level of society and we should put policies in place to allow them to warn the public while at the same time not giving people a green light to disclose information with no proof of wrong doing. I’m glad to see that this idea is gaining ground in the world today.
C) Conclusion
So should you take the vaccine or should you not. I think you’ve already decided and there lies my question: How did you come to your decision? Could you be honest with your answer? Or could you even explain how?
The button line is that we need to defeat this pandemic, protect lives and move on. Between the skeptics and believer in the vaccine, who is likely to help us to heal fast? Being among the believer, I think that believers have an advantage of at least having a viable solution and a plan. What is the alternative for the skeptics? The world would like to hear.
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