Elvis got vaccinated. So will Obama, Inslee, Dammeier. To beat COVID-19, we all should
Christmas came early this week with approval of a COVID-19 vaccine.
On Thursday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory board gave Pfizer-BioNTech the green light on a vaccine that the board said has “high efficacy” and a good “safety profile.”
Gov. Jay Inslee told CNN on Wednesday that Washington will be ready to mobilize “within a day or so” of final approval.
First in line for distribution will be residents 65 and older, those living in long-term care homes and frontline healthcare workers.
But fast tracking a vaccine is only part one of a difficult equation. Part two is convincing people to roll up their sleeves. Nearly half of Americans either say they won’t get vaccinated or have yet to make up their minds, according to a new survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Among skeptics, reasons vary from general distrust of government to fears that the rapid pace of clinical trials mean the vaccine is not safe.
Purported motives making internet rounds have clearly been cribbed from dystopian science-fiction; they include but are not limited to: Big Brother implanting microchips, and/or a worldwide plot to alter the genetic makeup of humans.
It’s why the FDA released Pfizers’s 92-page Phase lll trial data. Readers can see for themselves that adverse effects from the two-shot vaccine have been shown to be less than 0.5 percent. After the first dose, efficacy was at 52 percent; a second dose administered three weeks later raised it to 95 percent.
But public mistrust remains rampant, which is why state and local health authorities must continue their robust public education campaign.
Health officials also have to contend with Washington’s diehard anti-vax movement. It flared up big time last year when a measles outbreak led the Legislature to repeal some student measles shots exemptions.
And then there are the legitimate concerns: Fewer than half of Black Americans say they will get a coronavirus vaccine, compared with 63 percent of Hispanic people and 61 percent of white people, according to a December report from the Pew Research Center. Deep-seated skepticism of government medical interventions has historic and cultural roots too numerous to mention here.
The best way to persuade people the COVID-19 vaccine is safe might be the Elvis approach. In 1956, swivel-hipped superstar Elvis Presley got his polio vaccine in front of a live studio audience.
It’s why past presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama recently came forward to say they’re willing to do the same with the COVID-19 vaccine, in front of cameras.
We reached out to several Washington elected officials who said they, too, are willing to submit to a public poke if it means convincing people the vaccines are safe.
Inslee was first to raise his hand but underscored the importance of not jumping ahead in line. U.S. Reps. Derek Kilmer and Kim Schrier, Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards and Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier echoed that sentiment.
We like Washington’s Speaker of the House Laurie Jinkins’ response: “I’m so excited about the vaccine,” the Tacoma legislator said, “that I’m happy to take it in a group, on a train, in a plane, in the dark, in a park, on camera, in panorama, all alone, in my home, on the street, where people meet . . .”
May it be known that Speaker Jinkins will take her vaccines with a side of green eggs and ham.
If she or any other leaders are willing to do it in front of TNT cameras, we’ll get them ready to roll. Local celebrities, trusted VIPS and non-political types could build even more credibility.
The vaccines are indeed cause for celebration; they offer the best defense against a disease that has taken millions of lives and devastated economies around the world.
But don’t throw away the masks too soon; our long global nightmare is far from over. According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the rollout for universal vaccination could take six months or more.
As with most things COVID-19, patience and endurance are key.
This story was originally published December 11, 2020 at 5:00 AM.