
Each stage of the American Covid-19 pandemic has been marked by a singular public-health message that crowded out all other perspectives.
From early calls to “crush the curve” with shutdowns and pleas to stay at home, then to claims that face masks would end the pandemic, these messaging strategies have sowed unrealistic expectations and delayed public acceptance of reality.
The most recent message is “universal vaccination,” an aspiration whose unattainability may further delay the country’s return to social and economic normalcy.
How did we arrive at this point?
The media’s campaign to stoke fear about "collapsing health systems", along with their portrayal of severe illness as the inevitable consequence of infection—despite a thousandfold difference in risk between old and young—contributed to an atmosphere of distrust.
Animosity toward Donald Trump fueled this campaign.
Health officials abetted the discord by abandoning longstanding public-health tenets that emphasize harm reduction and a nonjudgmental outlook.
Instead, these self-proclaimed experts promoted mandates for the healthy and public shaming of people who strayed from their ever-changing guidelines.
Now the fear and distrust have made a substantial proportion of the U.S. population unreceptive to a vaccine.
Many of the estimated 100 million Americans who aren’t interested in vaccination are unlikely to change their decision voluntarily.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-universal-vaccination-chimera-11612466130#refreshed?mod=opinion_lead_pos7