Coronavirus Vaccine Dilemmas
Claudewell S. Thomas, MD, MPH, DLFAPA, is an established psychiatrist who is currently retired ,, He received his medical degree in 1956 at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine and specializes in social psychiatry, public health psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry. Dr. Thomas was board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry... more
The FDA is considering approval of the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use in the USA amid reports of adverse reactions in a few people with allergen hypersensitivity in the U.K. This is not an unusual occurrence in the field of allergy. The problem is that in the atmosphere of disinformation and competitive claim and the exclusion of Biden representatives from White House Covid committee meetings, the rise of anti-vaccine sentiment and live free or die sentiment fed by religious freedom court decisions is skyrocketing.
In checking with physicians in my network about vaccine availability and eligibility prioritization, I became aware of how basic the private practice model is to American healthcare. While health care providers are in the front lines of the fight, many are either unaware of or indifferent to the coercive power of state and federal government. It is a strange paradox that many Americans appeal to an authoritarian President to dispense favors from medical equipment to pardons while dismantling governmental levers but accuse those who wish to use the legitimate levers of power to act in an authoritarian fashion with the consent of the governed. In the meantime, the numbers keep rising, two dying from the coronavirus every 55 seconds.
