Opinion | The Reasons for Covid Vaccine Hesitancy – The New York Times

To the Editor:

Re Covid Vaccine Hesitancy Is Getting Worse, by Danielle Ofri (Opinion guest essay, Jan. 31):

Unfortunately, Dr. Ofris language here embodies the misguided approach that too many in the medical community have taken during and after the pandemic, severely eroding our patients trust in public health.

Reasonable people can disagree about the utility of Covid vaccine boosters in otherwise healthy adults. Indeed the World Health Organization is not recommending updated Covid boosters for otherwise healthy adults or children.

Thus, the almost 80 percent of American adults who chose not to get boosted this winter are not suffering from the heebie-jeebies. They are making a rational decision that is in line with that made by European health agencies that likewise dont support universal Covid boosters (a policy that, in my mind, is strongly supported by the current scientific evidence).

To suggest otherwise is harmful to the trust we physicians are trying to restore with our patients after the pandemic.

Shelli Farhadian Guilford, Conn. The writer is an assistant professor of medicine (infectious diseases) at Yale School of Medicine.

To the Editor:

When I read this essay I thought of a traffic safety conference Id once attended. The subject was seatbelt use, and the common attitude discussed was that it wont happen to me and if I die, then it wont be my problem anymore. The speaker responded, But what if you survive in a permanently disabled state? The prospect of living with the adverse consequences of your behavior can raise the stakes in ones mind.

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Opinion | The Reasons for Covid Vaccine Hesitancy - The New York Times