{"title":"Pandemic panic and the culture of complacency","authors":"Ford Brian J","doi":"10.17352/jbm.000033","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The many legacies bequeathed to us by the COVID-19 pandemic have embraced novel approaches to vaccine development, a greater awareness of the principles of hygiene among the general public, the need for governments to take a proactive stance when faced with unfamiliar pathologies, and the role of specialist medical and scientific advisers. However, many of the claimed protocols are medieval in nature and have little scientific evidence to support their introduction. Similarly, we have failed to grasp the importance of the anti-vaccination campaigns, which are always founded on ignorance or willfulness, but on previous examples of duplicitous behavior by those in authority, coupled with our poor understanding of the way virus variants function, have engendered a sense that many of the precautions taken may have been unnecessary (Ford, 2020a). In consequence, I fear that future threats from hemolytic viruses of high transmissibility may be met with complacency. Improved public education, and greater academic transparency concerning the nature of risk, will be necessary if a future pandemic is to be effectively controlled.","PeriodicalId":48617,"journal":{"name":"Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2022-11-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.17352/jbm.000033","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The many legacies bequeathed to us by the COVID-19 pandemic have embraced novel approaches to vaccine development, a greater awareness of the principles of hygiene among the general public, the need for governments to take a proactive stance when faced with unfamiliar pathologies, and the role of specialist medical and scientific advisers. However, many of the claimed protocols are medieval in nature and have little scientific evidence to support their introduction. Similarly, we have failed to grasp the importance of the anti-vaccination campaigns, which are always founded on ignorance or willfulness, but on previous examples of duplicitous behavior by those in authority, coupled with our poor understanding of the way virus variants function, have engendered a sense that many of the precautions taken may have been unnecessary (Ford, 2020a). In consequence, I fear that future threats from hemolytic viruses of high transmissibility may be met with complacency. Improved public education, and greater academic transparency concerning the nature of risk, will be necessary if a future pandemic is to be effectively controlled.
期刊介绍:
The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine (YJBM) is a graduate and medical student-run, peer-reviewed, open-access journal dedicated to the publication of original research articles, scientific reviews, articles on medical history, personal perspectives on medicine, policy analyses, case reports, and symposia related to biomedical matters. YJBM is published quarterly and aims to publish articles of interest to both physicians and scientists. YJBM is and has been an internationally distributed journal with a long history of landmark articles. Our contributors feature a notable list of philosophers, statesmen, scientists, and physicians, including Ernst Cassirer, Harvey Cushing, Rene Dubos, Edward Kennedy, Donald Seldin, and Jack Strominger. Our Editorial Board consists of students and faculty members from Yale School of Medicine and Yale University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. All manuscripts submitted to YJBM are first evaluated on the basis of scientific quality, originality, appropriateness, contribution to the field, and style. Suitable manuscripts are then subject to rigorous, fair, and rapid peer review.