Today, in America, we have an incredible number of police officers dying in the line of duty. Not from gunshots, but because they are refusing the Covid vaccine. Those most vulnerable, on the front lines, and most likely to unwittingly spread the virus, who logically cannot socially distance, do not trust the best science and best scientists there are.
For years, scientists have been sounding the alarm–science in America is under assault, and that that assault would have devastating consequences. Now, the nation faces a time of crisis, the worst pandemic in over a century, and it is becoming clear just how right they are. It is useless to build government institutions not trusted by their people. Anthony Fauci and the CDC have no purpose if people do not recognize them as an authority. We are no better off as a people, in fact we are in some ways worse off, as if we did not have those institutions at all when they are not trusted.
In the beginning it was possible to understand a degree of hesitancy in communities of color, particularly in African American communities; long standing mistrust of the medical establishment was a barrier. Those barriers have been largely overcome by intense and smart pro-vaccination campaigns. As the long and turbulent medical history of America that has created so much distrust has finally been addressed well enough, the gap between vaccination rates in white and Black communities has narrowed.
It is time for a national conversation, and not one simply about vaccines and the risks of the coronavirus, but about the purpose of institutions like the CDC and Anthony Fauci. What is their purpose if not as trusted voices in a crisis? In life, we must accept that we do not each as individuals know everything. I accept that I am no expert on virology. I am willing to turn to others I do trust. It is this shared trust that enables me to work together with others to solve problems that we face collectively, problems that cannot be faced alone. This basic system of trust is what has eroded. It is not really a problem of individuals refusing to receive the vaccine. It is a problem of individuals refusing to be part of the whole in a moment of crisis.
When a crisis comes, all societies need people that can be trusted to get them through that crisis—to be a voice of reason, to hold the people together. Without that they will inevitably fall apart. A common belief in science is a glue that holds America together. Now, in that moment of crisis we are discovering the terrible consequences of an assault on science—an assault that many dismissed as unimportant. Now, we need not only science we can trust but a people willing to trust it.
Progressive Without Apology 