The year 2021 is drawing to a close and I can’t help but take stock after this second pandemic year, as it was a moving year.
Last year around this time, I was very optimistic. The data on the vaccine against Covid-19 was better than ever expected, the anticipation of rapid availability of the vaccine was encouraging. Despite initial stuttering vaccine deliveries and the never-ending lockdown (which was personally oppressive for me due to school closures), I was firmly convinced that we should be able to vaccinate all adults as quickly and as comprehensively as possible by summer, thereby overcoming the pandemic (or at least its most dangerous aspects, namely severe courses and death).
Building Trust and Enlightenment
Of course, I was also aware that much trust-building and enlightenment regarding the vaccination would be necessary – and I have done this intensively for my specialty, especially for MS -, but given the unpredictability and threat of SARS-CoV2, I did not remotely consider that almost 30% of adults would completely refuse vaccination by autumn 2021, even though the arguments are clear and the scenario that awaits us as a society in the absence of vaccination readiness was quite clearly communicated by experts.
Therefore, I was frustrated when I saw the vaccination rates towards the end of summer 2021 – which is well explained from the current situation. What worries and disappoints me more than the indifference of many fellow citizens or some hesitant political decision, is the realization that a considerable portion of the German population is no longer accessible to scientific knowledge and arguments, although science and empirical research are the basis of our modern, open-minded and free society.
Science as the Basis for a Free Society
Ignorance of scientific methods and escape into “alternative facts” pose a great risk to freedom and democracy. As long as some have worked on whether the earth is not a disc after all or the moon landing was staged in Hollywood, the problem could still be ignored, but in the case of the pandemic or climate change, science denial, particularly in connection with social networks, is toxic and corrosive.
The strategies are always the same: The appearance of pseudo-experts who do not possess professional expertise – at least not the kind that enables them to make statements on topics for which they are mistakenly considered experts. The “cherry-picking”, i.e., the selective selection of scientific results and the deliberate omission of a multitude of scientific findings, which usually reflect the majority scientific consensus. Logical fallacies distort facts or oversimplify them inappropriately, and unfulfillable expectations are placed on science, such as the 100% safety of a drug or a vaccine. The entire argument is then often integrated into abstruse and anti-Semitic conspiracy narratives – disgusting! With these methods, doubts and mistrust of science and medicine are fueled. Meanwhile, those who act against all reason play a large part in the predicament we now find ourselves in.
Explaining Science: Also in the New Year!
Ultimately, this problem is not new. Also in my field of specialty, multiple sclerosis, I am repeatedly confronted with the techniques of science denial, which unsettle patients and sometimes form the basis for wrong individual decisions. And precisely for this reason, it is important to continuously counteract and explain science. Therefore, I will continue to run the MS-DocBlog and continue to comment on important topics from the field of medicine for you. I would hope that this contributes to strengthening your trust in science and medicine – because this trust is essential for our future. In this sense, I wish you a blessed Christmas and all the best for the New Year 2022.
