"Researchers studying these complications also worry about undermining trust in COVID-19 vaccines."
This is why no one trusts "institutions" anymore. The researches finding out if vaccines are dangerous should be focused on that single thing, not worried about how the results might be interpreted. In my opinion, THAT is what undermines trust.
But it doesn't work like that because these studies do not produce binary Good/Bad results. Researchers worry because they know that the results, however inconclusive/preliminary they might be, will be weaponized for political causes.
It seems that everyone thinks information is dangerous these days. People just choose what information to be concerned about depending on their priors.
I mean, information is dangerous. The trick is are we willing to examine it for whether it is true, and if so challenge our preconceived notions, accept the ramifications to our life, culture, society, etc. I suspect the answer for many these days is 'no'; it is far easier to bucketize things and move on.
Information is definitely dangerous when people distort it and use it for political ends. You can publish verified data and facts with a very clear cut analysis but it is so easy for someone to take parts of that, add some spin and maybe some fabrication and use it to push their agenda.
It would be a lot easier if the information environment weren't loaded with bad faith actors who will seize upon any morsel they can to push an extreme narrative.
The more bad faith discourse dominates, the more cautious and defensive institutions get. The more defensive institutions get, the more bad faith discourse dominates. If institutions apologize for having been wrong or lied in the past, that will only be used to strengthen the anti-institutional narrative. If they don't apologize, that will only be used to strengthen the anti-institutional narrative. There is no way out. We are in a death spiral.
I guarantee this paper is going to instantly make the rounds in anti-vaxx camps and will be used to imply that vaccines cause everything from autism to the common cold. That will only cause researchers to be even more hesitant to publish anything actually concerning about vaccines, since they'll know that any doubt will be weaponized. That in turn will make people even more distrustful and more likely to trust quacks, ideologues, and lurid tabloid-style material.
They're trying to avoid the equivalent of "Researchers find out deep fried Twinkies are actually healthy for you!" types of messages being spread because of the sensitive nature of the topic. Careful communication of their findings is important so that they don't get blown out of proportion and misinterpreted.
The intentions were good, I don't doubt that, but I just feel so disappointed now. I didn't have any strong opinions about Covid vaccines before, and just did what everyone else did. However, I developed heart rhythm issues few days after vaccination, and some blood coagulation problems (blood is thicker that normal, doesn't matter how much water I regularly drink per day). I am 26 years old, I don't drink nor smoke, I watch what I eat, control my weight, exercise regularly and did these things long before Covid. To the best of my knowledge, I never had Covid either, nor any notable health issues before that. If this is a coincidence, it's some absurd lottery winning luck.
I gave you a compensatory upvote assuming that you're sincere since it looks like a real account.
The extreme politicization of this is ridiculous, really, because it was 100% bipartisan. Operation warp speed was a Trump administration initiative. Vaccine mandates were pushed pretty hard across the board with only a few notable exceptions. The far right started pushing antivaxx stuff even before there was any evidence anything was wrong, which of course forced the left to take the extreme opposite position because that's how it always has to be. If one side says the sky is blue, the other side is forced to say it's green. The bases (both of them) demand nothing less than total polarization on every issue so they can get their outrage dopamine fix.
Now that there is some evidence of problems (which doesn't surprise me that much because developing and shipping a vaccine in one year is kind of nuts), nobody can go back and change their position because the flags have been planted firmly in the ground. That's how modern hyper-polarized social media hate-laser politics works.
The reality is that the entire pandemic is a "fog of war" scenario. There was immense economic pressure to reopen the economy to get the current administration re-elected (which would have happened regardless of what party was in office because that's politics), and that took the form of both a crash vaccine program and pushes to just reopen and "absorb" COVID. Loads of data were collected but nobody understands the data yet because there are multiple variables changing in multiple ways. Any engineer knows that when multiple things are changing at the same time it becomes almost impossible to know what is going on. Unfortunately history offers few opportunities for controlled experiments.
I don't expect to see a complete picture of COVID, its effects, what measures worked the best, and how effective and/or problematic the vaccine is for years.
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[ 4.4 ms ] story [ 53.2 ms ] threadThis is why no one trusts "institutions" anymore. The researches finding out if vaccines are dangerous should be focused on that single thing, not worried about how the results might be interpreted. In my opinion, THAT is what undermines trust.
The more bad faith discourse dominates, the more cautious and defensive institutions get. The more defensive institutions get, the more bad faith discourse dominates. If institutions apologize for having been wrong or lied in the past, that will only be used to strengthen the anti-institutional narrative. If they don't apologize, that will only be used to strengthen the anti-institutional narrative. There is no way out. We are in a death spiral.
I guarantee this paper is going to instantly make the rounds in anti-vaxx camps and will be used to imply that vaccines cause everything from autism to the common cold. That will only cause researchers to be even more hesitant to publish anything actually concerning about vaccines, since they'll know that any doubt will be weaponized. That in turn will make people even more distrustful and more likely to trust quacks, ideologues, and lurid tabloid-style material.
The extreme politicization of this is ridiculous, really, because it was 100% bipartisan. Operation warp speed was a Trump administration initiative. Vaccine mandates were pushed pretty hard across the board with only a few notable exceptions. The far right started pushing antivaxx stuff even before there was any evidence anything was wrong, which of course forced the left to take the extreme opposite position because that's how it always has to be. If one side says the sky is blue, the other side is forced to say it's green. The bases (both of them) demand nothing less than total polarization on every issue so they can get their outrage dopamine fix.
Now that there is some evidence of problems (which doesn't surprise me that much because developing and shipping a vaccine in one year is kind of nuts), nobody can go back and change their position because the flags have been planted firmly in the ground. That's how modern hyper-polarized social media hate-laser politics works.
The reality is that the entire pandemic is a "fog of war" scenario. There was immense economic pressure to reopen the economy to get the current administration re-elected (which would have happened regardless of what party was in office because that's politics), and that took the form of both a crash vaccine program and pushes to just reopen and "absorb" COVID. Loads of data were collected but nobody understands the data yet because there are multiple variables changing in multiple ways. Any engineer knows that when multiple things are changing at the same time it becomes almost impossible to know what is going on. Unfortunately history offers few opportunities for controlled experiments.
I don't expect to see a complete picture of COVID, its effects, what measures worked the best, and how effective and/or problematic the vaccine is for years.