Hesitancy vs Lies

I wandered around the garden looking for a tiny bug, but they all seem to have vanished. (despite the fact that somebody once told me that no matter where you are, you are never farther than three feet from an insect.) There was no avoiding this ginormous box containing our umbrella, so that seemed to be as good a blip as any. I put the chair in there for scale.

There was a story in the paper this morning about  a 93 year old Santa Rosa doctor who was tasked getting people to take the Salk vaccine against polio sixty years ago. He faced circumstances back then which were  very similar to those facing doctors today regarding people's 'vaccine hesitancy'. When asked why he thought it takes so long for some people to accept an intervention that could help vanquish a pestilential disease, he didn't mince words. 'Ignorance', he said. 'Any future deaths or disabilities due to polio will probably be the result of apathy and ignorance concerning immunization.'

I have always been annoyed by the term 'vaccine hesitancy'. I would (and have) used stronger words to describe it. In a situation of life and death, I  think there is only one reason for people to risk their own lives and those of people around them by not having a lifesaving vaccine, and that is if taking a vaccine would endanger their own life.

The last decade has witnessed a growing lack of civility in politics with an inevitable effect on normal social behavior.  Is this what has brought about the growth of 'political correctness' and terms like 'vaccine hesitancy'? 

There is a fine line between rude insults, and working so hard not to offend that the resulting terms are also meaningless. We've become afraid to say or do anything for fear of offending. Common sense seems to have been lost in the shuffle. 

I'd like to take my cue from the 93 year old doctor. Just say it like it is ....