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Tons of compilation videos on YT of Biden, other politicos, and much of the leftward leaning media making those very claims in 2021. I’ve seen them, don’t need

Tons of compilation videos on YT of Biden, other politicos, and much of the leftward leaning media making those very claims in 2021. I’ve seen them, don’t need to again, and don’t want my algorithm results to be filled with that crap by doing a search on your behalf. People tend to try and excuse it by saying “well, they weren’t the scientists” but the reality is they were the public face of the covid vaccination efforts and their exaggerations and insistence on mandates had a net negative effect on people’s perceptions of the covid vaccine efficacy which has bled into a more general skepticism of public health and other vaccines. Remember what President Obama purportedly said: “Never underestimate Joe’s ability to fuck things up”. Applies here.

teamonkey 11mo ago
Politicians always use simple, punchy messaging to get the point across. They do trade accuracy for simplicity, that’s a given. I personally think “get vaccinated so you don’t get sick and don’t spread it to others” is an acceptable simplification of “get vaccinated so you have less chance of getting severely sick and reduce the risk of spreading it to others”, which is the truth (though I believe the language used was most often closer to the latter than the former). In any case, they most certainly communicated more detail than you are suggesting. In fact there was a lot of detail. It’s very hard to buy the notion that Biden was actively misleading that vaccines were going to be 100% effective when in White House briefings the president would hand over to medical staff, who then talked in depth about efficacy rates of less than 100%.
- kcplate 11mo ago
  > …an acceptable simplification… There is nothing acceptable about a message that ends up eroding trust in science and health authorities. Good intentions with poor outcomes hurt more than they help. We shouldn’t excuse it.
  - teamonkey 11mo ago
    As I said clearly, a) that was a personal opinion, b) I don’t believe the message was actually presented in such absolute terms. There may have been poor science communication, which is always a problem, but that is not unusual. There was and continues to be a huge amount of disinformation and anti-science fear spread around, but the correct information was put out there and if you weren’t getting the right information you need to change your sources.
    - kcplate 11mo ago
      That’s blaming the reaction instead of the cause. Exactly which sources could someone switch to for accurate information? All were bad. The political and health authorities were overcommitting the efficacy and results of the vaccine program in their communications. They were mandating a vaccine program (where they could) and pressuring for mandates (where they couldn’t mandate themselves) of a vaccine that was not doing what they said it would do. They also were actively attempting to censor information on media and social platforms including accurate information but contrary to their message. Of course the public would become skeptical and a backlash would come when the dust settled. There is no heresy in looking back and evaluating how things were managed and hope that our authorities learn from their mistakes before God forbid any future health crisis comes our way. What we know from the last one is “Sit down, shut up, and take the medicine and don’t trust your lying eyes” doesn’t work and creates distrust. So let’s not do that again.

teamonkey 11mo ago

Politicians always use simple, punchy messaging to get the point across. They do trade accuracy for simplicity, that’s a given. I personally think “get vaccinated so you don’t get sick and don’t spread it to others” is an acceptable simplification of “get vaccinated so you have less chance of getting severely sick and reduce the risk of spreading it to others”, which is the truth (though I believe the language used was most often closer to the latter than the former). In any case, they most certainly communicated more detail than you are suggesting. In fact there was a lot of detail. It’s very hard to buy the notion that Biden was actively misleading that vaccines were going to be 100% effective when in White House briefings the president would hand over to medical staff, who then talked in depth about efficacy rates of less than 100%.

kcplate 11mo ago
> …an acceptable simplification… There is nothing acceptable about a message that ends up eroding trust in science and health authorities. Good intentions with poor outcomes hurt more than they help. We shouldn’t excuse it.
- teamonkey 11mo ago
  As I said clearly, a) that was a personal opinion, b) I don’t believe the message was actually presented in such absolute terms. There may have been poor science communication, which is always a problem, but that is not unusual. There was and continues to be a huge amount of disinformation and anti-science fear spread around, but the correct information was put out there and if you weren’t getting the right information you need to change your sources.
  - kcplate 11mo ago
    That’s blaming the reaction instead of the cause. Exactly which sources could someone switch to for accurate information? All were bad. The political and health authorities were overcommitting the efficacy and results of the vaccine program in their communications. They were mandating a vaccine program (where they could) and pressuring for mandates (where they couldn’t mandate themselves) of a vaccine that was not doing what they said it would do. They also were actively attempting to censor information on media and social platforms including accurate information but contrary to their message. Of course the public would become skeptical and a backlash would come when the dust settled. There is no heresy in looking back and evaluating how things were managed and hope that our authorities learn from their mistakes before God forbid any future health crisis comes our way. What we know from the last one is “Sit down, shut up, and take the medicine and don’t trust your lying eyes” doesn’t work and creates distrust. So let’s not do that again.