I have enjoyed listening to local debates around vaccines.
People that stacked up on zinc, vitamin D, vitamin C, chloroquine, ivermectin, ginger, lime, garlic and any other drug or supplement that was rumoured to be effective, with no verifiable efficacy rate, have now become cautious at verifiable efficacy rates of vaccines.
People that spent good money on prophylactic treatment are weary of free vaccines.
People that damned short and long term effects of drugs and supplements, have become weary of side effects of vaccines.
I think it is partly because treatment has improved, and partly because no matter how bad things get, humans adapt. The world over, news of covid-19 no longer has a shock effect. It now reports like just another sensational news item.
Interestingly, science moved fast to provide a vaccine, but it was not fast enough, because the fear factor of the disease had dissipated to the point where conspiracy theories now rein supreme. The amygdala has moved on.
The jury is still out on the rise of new anti-vaxxers with the introduction of the covid-19 vaccines, but there is a lot to learn about human psychology from this pandemic.
For one, the natural inclination of humans to adapt to anything, given time, helps you understand the boiling frog metaphor – “If a frog is suddenly put into a pot of boiling water, it will jump out and save itself from impending death. But, if the frog is put in lukewarm water, with the temperature rising slowly, it will not perceive any danger to itself and will be cooked to death.”
Covid-19 was boiling water in April 2020, but today, it is just tepid water being brought to boil slowly.
Humankind underestimates prolonged threats.
– Osasu Oviawe
On vaccination
