Daily Times
May 30, 2021
Since 2020, the biggest problem the world faces has remained the Covid-19 pandemic. Over time, it has both caused disease and death as well as crippled economies and normal life. It has become increasingly clear that neither harsh steps like nationwide lockdowns nor more maverick experiments with “herd immunity” are going to succeed at digging humanity out of its present predicament. This has all but left us with the option of vaccinating our way out of this. In this context, the challenge of vaccinating seven and a half billion people has become further compounded by concerns around vaccine safety. In particular, popular discourse around side effects of and, more importantly, adverse reactions to Covid-19 vaccines has very significantly accentuated “vaccine hesitancy”. This has led to (previously avoidable) slowdowns in vaccine roll-outs and setbacks to national vaccination efforts.