What Is The Future For Vaccines (and Trust)?

I asked myself why I've only made 3 COVID-related videos this year, and the answers made me worried about the future.

This is my second video in a row that could be listened to as a podcast. So stop pestering me about still not having gotten around to starting that podcast. This is actually supreme efficiency pal. But seriously, I know it's kinda boring, it would make me happy if you just stuck it at x2 speed.

I haven't watched this back fully but I hope my message came across reasonably clearly. The last thing I would want to be doing is stoking the culture wars or misinformation which both surround COVID topics, especially vaccination. I'm just trying to say that...shit's complicated, ya get me?

References from the video:

-----------------

More Medlife Crisis:

[MattColbo]

"there will be far more harmful diseases, and worse pandemics in our future, maybe not that far away!"

happy new year right back at you Rohin

[julesc]

personally I trust someone who admits they don't know for sure, but is able to give me their well-informed best guess, far more than someone who just has a very loud unshakeable opinion based on not very much evidence!

[Pandoradan]

I really appreciate this Rohin - you seem largely worn out by the polarisation of Covid and lack of evidence-based thinking, but I appreciate your taking the nuanced route. We need conversations like this.

[jannepeltonen]

Also - admitting failures and limitations increases trust - YES! It's something about public life I've never been able to wrap my head around, politicians and other people seeing it as a bad thing to own their mistakes.

[neurotransmissions]

I think you’re right that this will piss off both sides. You pissed me off with that abrupt end to your video. Lol

[malteplath]

Thank you! I have no medical background, so I can judge studies and evidence even less, but I am feeling increasingly worried that people are getting "religious" about *everything* when it comes to COVID and policies for fighting the pandemic. Here in Germany we are seeing the same tribalism, and a frightening inability of politicians and administration to address the issues that are making people sceptical of official advice and policies. In essence, each side is driving the other to entrench even deeper.

[sunasawesomeness]

I found it very interesting that you actually mention that health care workers are leaving the field due to the pandemic. Having to be on the front lines of this for two years, with ever switching information, regulations and, depending on your country, terrible communication just seems so draining. As a med student myself this pandemic has opened my eyes a lot to the treatment of the government and the general public towards health care workers - at least here in Switzerland it's pretty saddening.
Also, the thumb nail is a 10/10 from me, bravo Rohin.

[johnopalko]

’Way back in the 1980s I wrote a research paper for a psychology class. I began it with an epigraph:

“People don't ask for facts in making up their minds. They would rather have one good, soul-satisfying emotion than a dozen facts.”
-- Robert Keith Leavitt, _Voyages and Discoveries, _ 1939

Things haven't changed much in the intervening 82 years.

[brownieboiii]

Don’t you love how people kept touting “trust the science” as if it was a religion, not an empirical process of thinking and questioning

[argo]

It's refreshing to hear someone intelligent talking about these issues. It's okay to say we don't have all the answers, but please don't make decisions based on Facebook memes.

[nikevisor]

Really appreciate this video and quite enjoyed this 'sit and gab' style of content. Always happy to hear the things that have been rattling around in your mind for a few weeks/months. Thanks for all that you've done and continue to do to keep us informed and entertained. Take care, Doc :)

[knpark]

As a graduate student in a non-medical discipline, I have a deep respect for experts who come out and say in public, "I don't know (for sure)."

[rdot]

Does this channel count as medical work experience

[SevenJetC]

I actually stumbled over this channel when looking up whether is Keto diet bullshit or not and I kinda avoided Covid content here and elsewhere. I really appreciated the interview with David Nutt and I thank you for the laughs from unhelpful answers. I wish you a good new year (I hope for all our sakes it would be better than the last).

[artman]

Statistics can be really muddy sometimes. At least in my family, the vaccinations seemed to have paid off.
Though I wonder if there are people who became vaccine skeptics or anti-vaxxers not in spite of media's attempts to combat them but because of media's attempts to combat them.

[tessiepinkman]

This video made me feel like I was back way back when, before all this, when you actually could discuss things and *everything* wasn't black or white.
Thank you for bringing some nuance.

[soniashapiro]

Thanks for talking about the risk/benefit ratio. Being told that vaccines are 100% safe makes them seem less likely to be trusted. Being told that they're a little bit risky, and yet they're still worth it seems the better thing to say.

[jedidiahsojourner]

What is it about the word NO that confuses the control freaks? Please stop "needling" me.

[sandwich]

Your videos are always so very well put
You put across the nuance of the issues at hand, and that's something that seems to have disappeared altogether on the internet in general 😔

[dcnole]

The obsession with all-or-nothing takes on COVID subjects is a huge problem, and I appreciate your simple recognition that not everything is simple. Nuance and uncertainty is not only acceptable, but should be preferred IMO. The religiosity of COVID-related punditry--on both sides--is creepy and has done a great deal to undermine public trust.