Vaccine confusion grows; here's what you need to know

Complexity, ignorance and deliberate disinformation are causing the confusion.

Vaccines used to be simple. They make a vaccine. You go to the doctor (or, in the case of the annual flu shot, possibly some other location) and you get the shot. Case closed.

But in this age of pandemic panic, governmental incompetence and disinformation, vaccination has become mired by confusion, false beliefs and ignorance.

Here’s everything you need to know right now about Covid-19 vaccination.

Most (60%) Americans don’t know where or when they can get vaccinated, according to a survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation. (The problem with awareness about vaccines is so bad that Budweiser is skipping the Super Bowl this year, diverting their advertising dollars into raising awareness about vaccination.)

Today, Google announced that it will make that knowledge easily available to the public through Google Maps. The feature will not only show where to get vaccinated, but also hours, eligibility and other vital info. The first states to get the feature will be Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. (Google already shows new cases per 100k people — just select Covid-19 info from the options menu of Google Maps.)

Until the Google feature is rolled out in your area, you should visit your state’s health departments for that information, which you can find here.

Recent rumors suggested that new variants of the coronavirus running wild in the UK and elsewhere would not be stopped by the vaccines. We still don’t know everything, but today Moderna claimed that their vaccine would almost certainly cover all strains, although it appears that their vaccine will have varying effectiveness against different strains. They’re also working on ways to “boost” the vaccines to be more effective against the more aggressive strains. We have not heard from all the other vaccine makers on this subject.

We’re also seeing massive disinformation flying around online about vaccines. These include all the bonkers claims you might expect from conspiracy theorists (such as that the vaccine comes with a chip that lets the government track you).

But in recent days, the Chinese government has started deliberately spreading disinformation through state-controlled media. One false claim is that the US vaccines can be fatal to older people. Another is that the coronavirus emerged not in China, but in US government labs. These false reports are being picked up and spread by US conspiracy theorists. According to The New York Times, the disinformation serves as face-saving cover for the failures of their own vaccines. (This is the Russian model. When you fail at something, convince everyone that your foreign rivals have also failed.)

Some false beliefs arise from people making assumptions. For example, recent drops in deaths and hospitalizations are not the result of the vaccine, according to Dr. Fauci. We need a lot more people to get vaccinated before the vaccine materially affects the numbers of deaths and hospitalization.

Expect more confusion in the months ahead. Keep yourself informed, and trust only direct sources or quality sources of information. And get vaccinated as soon as possible.