Covid lesson: trust the public with hard truths
You know who doesn&#x27;t try to hide this stuff from people?<p>Bad actors.  Conspiracy theorists, scammers, straight up liars.<p>So you&#x27;ve got on one hand &quot;the experts&quot; who are being vague and seemingly not wanting to tell you anything, and then on the other hand you&#x27;ve got the crazies who will tell you whatever you want to hear.<p>It&#x27;s something that is increasingly frustrating me about the vaccines.  The vaccines have become a political battle.  You&#x27;ve got the president saying absolutely ridiculous things like &quot;we are losing our patience with the unvaccinated&quot;.<p>I got phone calls <i>immediately</i> after that speech from my conservative friends and family members pissed off <i>at me</i> (who is on a different political quadrant than they are), wanting to know if I was &quot;losing my patience&quot; with them, and explaining how they are NEVER going to take the vaccine.  How they now see this as an important idealogical battle that they want to win.<p>Conservatives are sharing videos like this one: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?app=desktop&amp;v=TSZMtSPX3iE&amp;feature=youtu.be" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?app=desktop&amp;v=TSZMtSPX3iE&amp;feat...</a><p>Where it&#x27;s Dr. Fauci starting off saying &quot;The vaccine is 100% safe and 100% effective!&quot; (a lie, obviously), and as the video continues that number goes down and down and down.<p>It was the same last year when he said that we needed something like 70 or 80% antibody presence to reach herd immunity, but then was quoted in a more private interview saying that was basically a white lie, and that we wouldn&#x27;t be in the clear until nearly 100%.  THAT got shared among the conservative spaces, and basically erased ANY credibility that Fauci had going forward.<p>--<p>I wish they would just say: 
Covid sucks.  
Yes, it almost certainly leaked out of a lab in China.<p>Yes it was gain of function research.  Yes this is the worst industrial disaster in the history of the planet.<p>Yes we did say masks didn&#x27;t work.  It was a lie to keep the masks available for doctors.<p>Yes the vaccines do have dangers associated with them, but for many people that danger is probably less than the danger of covid.<p>Yes there are alternative treatments that show some effectiveness in cohorts, but not in RCTs.<p>No we don&#x27;t know why.<p>We aren&#x27;t sure if the lockdowns are actually effective, but we think it&#x27;s worth it to try them.<p>We aren&#x27;t sure if the masks are actually effective but we think it&#x27;s worth it to try them.<p>The vaccine is available to you and free if you want it.  This is a huge privilege you get because you live in the richest country in the world.  Basically your access to the vaccine is an example of how kickass the USA is.<p>Just stop freaking lying to people.  It&#x27;s making the problem 100x worse!