The recent global vaccination campaigns over the past years have been nothing short of a rollercoaster. On one hand, we’ve seen some serious highs with how it helped civilization fight against the pandemic. But on the other hand, the road has been bumpy, with a lot of rough patches that have sparked debates about how safe and effective they are. This double-edged sword of the vaccination efforts has caused many to delve deeper and to explore why they’ve been both something that stood for a chance of hope and also a point of controversy.
First off, we can’t be all against vaccinations when they have also provided the population with multiple health advantages. Vaccinations have cut hospitalizations dramatically for decades. And also, you can give health officials credit for the rapid production of the COVID-19 vaccines which was a surprisingly good display of global scientific collaboration.
According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO), the vaccines were developed in
record time, thanks to an adamant amount of international cooperation and “funding”
(“COVID-19 Vaccine Development and Deployment,” WHO). Billions of doses were given away
worldwide, drastically reducing sickness and deaths in many regions that suffered from the
pandemic.
On the other side of the coin, the global vaccine campaign wasn’t all just smooth sailing. Recently, I have been against vaccinations. For starters, safety concerns have bombarded the vaccination motive. A significant number of people over the years have become skeptical about how fast these vaccines are being developed and authorized and given out to the public. With COVID-19 being a mystery for the entire world, the fast paced and immediate release of the vaccine sparked numerous questions about the safety and reliability of it. According to a study published in The Lancet, the rapid pace of vaccine production led to concerns about insufficient in-depth data on safety and efficiency (“COVID-19 Vaccines: Safety and Efficacy Concerns,” The Lancet).
While most vaccines have been known to be safe and effective in the past, the rapidness and the narrative of being pushed to take the vaccine caused concern in my eyes. But the question still remains, why does all of this matter, why are they needed? The safety of these vaccines isn’t just for the medical industry, it’s for society as well. When people think they’re being rushed to do something or feel left out, trust evaporates. Misinformation, lies, and hesitancy can spread like a wildfire, making it harder to achieve the community harmony needed to stop pandemics, plagues and illnesses in their tracks. How fast the vaccine was developed, while impressive, raised questions that still haven’t fully been answered. The rush to curb the pandemic and get vaccines for everyone, also meant that some important issues were skimmed over or not adequately addressed. But that doesn’t ultimately mean we can’t get the answers we are all hoping for.
As we move forward, the lessons from this global vaccination campaign are quite clear and understood. We need to hold a better balance between speed, effectiveness and thoroughness, to make certain that safety and transparency is never compromised for the sake of convenience. The worldwide vaccination drive has been a mix of high hopes and hard lessons with there being backlash and praise. While the successes are undeniable, the challenges remind us of the importance of transparency. To truly change the relationship dynamic between producer and consumer, we need to address these types of issues head-on and firmly, ensuring that future health campaigns are both effective and trustworthy. Because at the end of the day, a healthier world is a world where everyone gets a fair shot, literally and figuratively.
