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COVID-19
VACCINATION

To Vaccinate or Not to Vaccinate?

By Jaime Pankowsky, MD, FACS

Often in the news media one reads of people refusing or doubting In times past, newspapers like “Punch” and many other more serious
whether to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or not. Reasons given publications, were the purveyors of news, some factual, some specula-
appear at first sight reasonable enough, including worry about allergic tive, some dubious and some flat-out lies. But, the public had the choice
reaction, fear of secondary infections (because of or in spite of the vac- of buying them or not. With the inventions of the telephone, radio,
cine, etc.), or that vaccines may cause Autism. These and other reasons television, movies and now, the internet and the electronic platforms
given varied from the improbable to the outlandish. to cast opinions, speeches and ideas up into the clouds to be captured
Ever since Dr. Jenner introduced the cowpox vaccine at the end of (willingly or unwillingly) by the public, we are now inundated with
the XVIII century and the British Parliament passed a law to vaccinate unverified opinions, voices, fantasies, conspiracies and, yes, some veri-
school children, the news media has come out with questions and even fied facts as well. The goal is not always evil as with Herr Goebbels’, but
opposition to such vaccine obligation. “Punch”, the sarcastic magazine, nevertheless, the spread of unverified information can cause what our
published a number of cartoons showing people growing cow tails be- military calls collateral damage or unintended results.
hind their bodies, or horns on their heads as a consequence of being As an example, we learned that no less than a representative to Con-
vaccinated. Other dreadful consequences to vaccination were pre- gress from Georgia, postulated that the fires in California were caused
sented and in response many Britons tried to refuse the vaccination by a laser ray projected from outer space by Monsieur Rothschild, who
lest they develop such complications. In the meantime, smallpox epi- happens to be French and, of course Jewish, and normally is known to
demics were still killing or deforming millions of people, a fact that be more interested in producing high quality wines. What caused
was waved away as part of life like rain and snow. Today, because of this Monsieur Rothchild to want to burn California is not explained.
effective vaccine, smallpox has all but disappeared. My problem is this: that there are enough people in the state of
Since the times of the invention of smallpox vaccines, we have seen Georgia who thought this person, who probably should be under psy-
the development of vaccines against rabies, diphtheria, tetanus, in- chiatric care, should be elected their representative to Congress. The
fluenza, poliomyelitis, etc. In other words, vaccines have had an envi- only explanation is the diffusion of outlandish stories, pseudo facts,
able record of success in preventing or reducing the effects of infectious and conspiracies in the media mentioned above. It is worrisome, be-
disease that in the past were scourges of humanity. It would be safe to cause Americans think of themselves as practical, factual individuals.
dare any business enterprise or world government to match similar suc- However, since the appearance of unverified, mis-information in the
cesses in all their decisions. And yet, some people will trust the adver- media and its persistent repetition, it has begun to appear believable
tisements and propagandas placed in newspapers and on television to a portion of our citizens. Even television commercials seem to be
before they would trust the COVID-19 vaccine. promising fantastic possibilities that seldom if ever come true, but their
Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s minister of propaganda, is reputedly to constant repetition are making them believable.
have said that “a lie, repeated frequently and persistently enough, will One should not be surprised, therefore, that vaccinations have also
be believed more than the truth”. And the regime he represented was been endowed with mysterious evil properties. Even minor reactions
an example of perhaps he being right since it happened in Germany, a to injections are magnified by the news media, making them appear as
country that prior to the Nazis was the most educated, most scientifi- dreadful complications by their televised megaphone. The media
cally advanced country in Europe. That said, those were bad times in thrives financially and politically in panic mongering. When children
Germany. It was suffering terrible post-war inflation and bad economic receive routine vaccinations, and coincidentally, some of those children
times after World War I, when they also felt the humiliation of defeat turn out to autistic, it is immediately assumed that one caused the
and the people were in the mood to receive the messages of those false other, instead of just coinciding with one another.
Messiahs. I think its time to teach more science to our children in school, at
Today, and since the end of World War II, the United States has least it should be given the same importance we now give to sports and
been at the apex of scientific advancement while at the same time en- social activities…perhaps more.
joying an enviable economic position in the world. Our medical centers
are a Mecca for medical education and new scientific discoveries and Jaime Pankowsky MD FACS is a retired physician who is a
developments. So, why are some of our people showing such stubborn life member of the Bexar County Medical Society.
disregard for true science and embracing persistent ignorance?

28 SAN ANTONIO MEDICINE • April 2021