Javier Rodríguez Alcázar reflects on the current COVID-19 vaccination process. It is a necessary reflection in these times of media sensationalism and misinformation about vaccines.
“Because of my job and age, it is very likely that I will get vaccinated with AstraZeneca. And when they call me, I will go, get vaccinated, and go on with my life. And I will do it for my own sake and for the sake of those around me. Some people fear this vaccine because 30 cases of thromboembolic events out of 5 million vaccinated people have been reported. However, a causal relationship has not been established. Without taking vaccines into account, blood clots normally occur with an incidence of four per one million adults. Therefore, there are probably other causes for those cases. Moreover, even if there was a causal relationship, the risk of getting vaccinated would be very low, much lower than many of the risks we take on our daily lives.
This is easy to understand. Millions of Spanish people have learnt way more difficult things in high school: we have solved equations; we have translated Virgilio’s texts. My grandfathers didn’t study and they figured out complex strategies to make crops grow in the dry terraces of their region (La Alpujarra). Our grandmothers managed to feed a great number of descendants with just some chickpeas and fennel. And yet, some people don’t trust politicians’ explanations regarding the acceptable risks of vaccines. Have people become stupid? Should we renounce democracy? Those politicians have reaped what they sowed: if Javier Arenas refuses to be held accountable for having received money from Bárcenas by “arguing” that there are many others like him in Spain; if politicians ask us to stay at home and to travel at the same time; if they have taken us for fools so many times… Then it is no surprise that people don’t trust what they say. It’s not about people’s capacities, their scientific knowledge or democracy. The problem lies in their selfish efforts to make it impossible to distinguish between good and bad arguments and between truths and lies”.
Read the full article by Javier Rodríguez Alcázar at Granada Hoy.