another friend, who works with numbers and projections in his day job, believes that the risk curves for covid and the vaccines are travelling in opposite directions and will soon cross each other. he uses a lot of x’s and y’s to explain his thoughts. while none of his equations have sold me on his theory, he knows his way around biostatistics and votes left-of-centre, so i can’t dismiss him as a science-denying alt-right whatever.
another friend, a single guy in his thirties who makes whip-smart observations about human nature and group dynamics, refuses not only to get the vaccine, but to date anyone who has. his reason? he doesn’t want to jeopardize his dream of having a big family by dating people who have undergone a medical intervention that could make them less fertile. while i haven’t come across any compelling evidence that the covid vaccines compromise fertility, my buddy isn’t willing to take even a one-in-a-million chance. that’s how badly he wants kids, mistrusts the vaccines, or both.
let’s be honest. these “irrational” people are in good company. most of us espouse at least some beliefs that stand on shaky scientific ground. take homeopathy, for instance. as
dr. ben goldacre describes in his book
bad science
, homeopathy contravenes several basic principles of medicine (such as the dose-response effect), yet remains a popular treatment modality. then there’s reiki, which rests on the belief that the palms can transmit the healing force of
qi
, a mystical energy that scientists have yet to locate. and don’t get me started on ear-candling or magnetic bracelets.