Now that the U.S. Presidential Election is in the rear view mirror, we are left to deal with the stark realizations of how divided we are as a country. I am trying to set aside the fact that political differences in this country are legion in their magnitude. However, I cannot seem to get past the outrageous attacks on science and medicine, which rose to the spotlight during the throes of the recent and ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

I have to admit, I feel rather naive to realize, for the first time during my many years on this planet, that there are a large number of people living in this country who repudiate the findings that constitute science and the practice of good, evidence-based medicine. These anti-vaxers are people who believe vaccinations cause autism and other harmful side effects, even though there is no credible evidence to suggest these contentions are true. The truth is, vaccinations have saved many millions of lives across the globe for decades, greatly eclipsing the lives saved by all other medical technological advances invented to date, no matter how sophisticated. Unfortunately, during the current pandemic, scientific principles proven to offer meaningful defense against an airborne viral pandemic such as COVID-19 have been politicized and perverted, to the point where large swathes of Americans do not believe in the efficacy of social distancing and wearing a face mask in significantly reducing the spread of the virus.

We are now in the third spike of rising COVID-19 cases among Americans, likely due to gatherings of people at the recent Thanksgiving holiday, and unfortunately Christmas is right around the corner. Fortunately, the first coronavirus vaccine has just received emergency use authorization from the FDA, and roll out of vaccine doses is underway even as I write this essay.

I believe that coronavirus vaccine myth-busting is critically important. Polls suggest that somewhere between 30-50% of Americans are thinking about declining the vaccine, even if it is given for free. Public health experts maintain that vaccine administration of less than 70% of the population will fail to confer herd immunity for all. Since many U.S. public health officials are now under attack by political propagandists, and anti-scientific and anti-medical sentiment seems to be at an all-time high in this country, I figure that the rest of us frontline healthcare workers need to take on the job of dispelling as many of the prevailing anti-COVID-19 vaccine myths as we can. Below is a review of some of them. In most cases, the truth should be relatively obvious to most of you.

“The coronavirus vaccines contain live viruses.”
▶ Wrong, because both the Pfizer/ Bio N Tech and Moderna vaccines contain very small fragments of the coronavirus genomes, or a piece of artificial genetic material, which provokes an appropriate immune response.

“mRNA vaccines can alter your DNA.”
▶ First of all, the mRNA never enters a cell, and the mRNA is designed to stimulate an immune response to the spike proteins on the outer coat of the coronavirus.

“You do not need two doses of the vaccine.”
▶ Wrong, because there are no studies studying the efficacy of one dose of the above two mentioned vaccines.

“If you got the flu shot this year, you do not need a coronavirus vaccine.“
▶ Wrong, because there is no known cross reactivity between the flu vaccines and the corona virus vaccines.

“You can ditch your mask after you get vaccinated.”
▶ Wrong because while studies have shown that the vaccine can protect you from becoming sick with the virus, there are no studies to show whether the vaccine can still transmit the virus to others. Public health officials will know when to exclude the need for mask wearing when a sufficient number of the population have been vaccinated.

“Once you receive the coronavirus vaccine, you are immune for life.” 
▶ Studies have not confirmed how long native or vaccine immunity lasts, and some experts suspect the immunity may be short-lived: 6 months or less.

“If you’ve already contracted COVID-19, you do not need to get vaccinated.” 
▶ No one is sure how long natural immunity lasts, so keep close to the new scientific information about this subject.

“Vaccines make you sick.”
▶ Pain, redness swelling at the site of injection, low-grade fever for 1-2 days accompanied by malaise, and symptoms similar to post-flu vaccine administration are all that you should expect to encounter.

“Vaccines contain toxic ingredients.”
▶ Gelatin and egg products, which some people are allergic to, are not contained in the two current front-running vaccines.

“Vaccines can cause autism.”
▶ There is absolutely no evidence that vaccines cause autism.

“Vaccines are used to microchip people.”
▶ This is not only false, but impossible!

“Vaccines are not safe because they were developed quickly.”
▶ The current front-running vaccines have been proven to be safe in the populations tested.

“COVID-19 vaccines were developed using fetal tissue.” 
▶ This is completely false!

Please do your part to tell your patients and everybody else you know how important it is to accept the vaccine as soon as it is available to them. We must promote the use of these COVID-19 vaccines. We must champion their cause, and in this way we can be a powerful force to help bring an end to this modern day scourge known as COVID-19. May next year be a lot better for all of us than this year. ■