I'm going to put this here so I can come back and reference it during the future fight over vaccines.
TL:DR this is far from over.......if we thought the fight to get people to wear masks and stay home has been hard....
MPR News with Kerri Miller about "Limited COVID-19 vaccine supply raises bioethics, equity questions"
https://www.mprnews.org/episode/2020/12 ... -questions~20 minutes in A caller skeptical about vaccines said she wants to wait until there is more data about the safety before getting it. A quote: "If we're going to say covid is less risky than the flu and the flu hasn't been mandated...then I really don't think that it should be a requirement....it is in emergency status and as more people get it they will get more data. I want to see that data first. I'm not risking my health and others' health [before we know about long term risk before benefits now.]"
Dr. Greg Poland, director of Vaccine Research Group at Mayo Clinic: "she voiced the
opinion that this is less risky than influenza. The facts are contrary to that. This is far riskier than influenza. Second thing is that....the burden is on people who would reject the vacation. Yes you can ask for 5 years, 10 years.....
We've had influenza vaccine for 70 years and there are still people who reject it. So data is not the overriding issue here. I think what a
wise person does is they look at the risk, they look at the benefit, if they are not expert in the area they have to
depend on the expertise of credible people and credible institutions and follow that lead. Otherwise they risk their health, they risk the health of other people. [BURN!] ...It means nothing if people don't' take the vaccine. In fact the estimate is that about 70+ 80+ percent of us are gong to have to take the vaccine before we get this pandemic under control. Otherwise
the very people who reject or are hesitant about the vaccine will be those responsible for prolonging the duration of the pandemic, the number of people who get hospitalized, end up with chronic medical problems, die from this. Of course the effect on the economy and the mental effect on our lives. So.. there's a point at which I think, and I understand in the US we are a hyper-individualist "me" society. Other successful societies are more "we" societies. And maybe we should think in that direction."
Arthur Caplan, founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU School of medicine added:
If you want more liberty, that's another value in addition to being oriented to individualism as Dr. Poland mentioned, we also like freedom and liberty. If you want more freedom to travel, if you want more freedom to get on an airline, if you want more freedom ultimately, I suspect, to go to the gym and to go to an indoor restaurant, you're going to be required to show vaccination. They are not going to take the liability that you go and infect others and then they get sued for not taking enough caution. So I do think we're going to see a lot of mandates that people are going to find difficult to say no to because they are going to want their freedom.
It's true a mandate will take away their freedom to chose if they want to be vaccinated or not but I think you're going to gain a heck of a lot more liberty and freedom if you do vaccinate... the toll of this disease is so big in terms of death and economic disaster that we will see the private sector leading and insisting. ...there is risk, but you are probably more likely to die when you drive to work, or if you cycle, or if you decide to go swimming, than if you get this vaccine....so it isn't just 'I want to be sure that the vaccine is as safe as possible' which is reasonable, but everything carries some risk and
we behave in many behaviors much riskier than anything that is going to show up from these vaccines. I'm pretty sure given the data so far. So risk is relative and you have to not just understand what's a risk but what's a
relative risk to other things you're going. The last part we're so individualistic, so egocentric. There are people out there who can't take this vaccine....it isn't just for you it's to protect your neighbor. That has to be kept in mind too if you want to get out there to resume normal activity, helping those who can't vaccinate for medical reasons.