蘑菇视频

Apr 16, 2021 3 min read

Smallpox would routinely kill thousands of people across the world every year in the 18th century, from the loftiest monarchs to the most lowly peasants.

So when English doctor Edward Jenner came up with a smallpox vaccine that was derived from cowpox in the early 1800s, you would think its arrival would be heralded universally as a miracle. Here was an elixir that would help eradicate what was described as 鈥渢he most dreadful scourge of the human species.鈥�

And yet there was resistance. Some believed that if you received the vaccine, you would develop a snout and floppy ears and other cow-like characteristics. According to Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children蘑菇视频 Hospital of Philadelphia, 鈥淭hat was the internet 1802, basically.鈥�

At a remove of 220 years, it蘑菇视频 easy for us to chuckle at the gullibility of our forebears. Though we are better educated and generally more sophisticated than people were eight or so generations ago, it must be said, however, that there are still plenty of us who are eager to lap up misinformation and believe every dubious rumor. Not surprisingly, that蘑菇视频 been the case when it comes to vaccines for COVID-19.

Most American adults are eager to get those shots in their arms, of course. A record-setting 4 million people were vaccinated across the country April 3, and millions more are clamoring to schedule appointments as the supply of vaccine grows and eligibility expands. Getting a COVID-19 vaccine is correctly seen as being crucial to avoiding sickness and death and getting us closer to the lives we enjoyed before the pandemic upended everything more than a year ago. But there are some Americans who are reluctant or resistant to getting one of the vaccines, based on specious claims and outright falsehoods.

It蘑菇视频 been whispered that the vaccines cause infertility. That蘑菇视频 baseless. So is the assertion that the vaccines change your DNA. You can鈥檛 get COVID-19 from the vaccines because they don鈥檛 contain live viruses. And studies have shown the vaccines are safe. Still, many will avoid being vaccinated due to these claims and others.

Some of the people who will take a pass on getting a COVID-19 vaccine are part of the same anti-vaxxer contingent that believes all vaccines are suspect or even dangerous. We no longer have to fret about polio, diphtheria and other diseases thanks to vaccines, but opponents of vaccines believe that because these diseases are no longer prevalent, we no longer have to worry about them and can skip being vaccinated. Or they theorize that vaccines cause autism, which is untrue, or they don鈥檛 trust scientists or doctors, believing that they are solely motivated by money.

We can鈥檛 say it emphatically enough: Vaccines are safe. Our lives have been made immeasurably better as a result of vaccines. The coronavirus vaccines that are coming to your neighborhood are also safe. Get one as soon as you have the opportunity.

And, please, don鈥檛 believe everything you see on social media.

Observer-Reporter