Gayle E. Woodson
The emergence of the novel virus SARS-CoV-2 galvanized global collaboration in the common goal of controlling the pandemic. Within months months much was learned about the biology of the virus, mode of transmission, and treatments to mitigate the disease, COVID-19. Effective vaccines have been developed. A large segment of the population is skeptical of these astonishingly rapid scientific advances. Many are incompliant with mitigation measures and opposed to immunization. Mistrust in science is not new, but has intensified during the pandemic. Factors cited by skeptics include instability of Public Health alerts and conflicting news about treatment efficacy. These concerns reflect a lack of comprehension of the nature of guidelines, or the very essence of science. Guidelines are based on the best available information, and must change with new findings. To permit sharing of preliminary data, many journals released preliminary data prior to completion of peer review. While this was appropriate to the urgency of the pandemic, intial results did not always withstand further studies or rigorous review. Shifting information compounded lack of faith in scientific opinion. Many people doubted that vaccines developed so rapidly could be safe and conspiracy theories proliferated. Physicians have a unique opportunity to allay fears, and to encourage compliance with guidelines, because in the face of confusing messaging, most people still trust in their own doctors. To succeed in this role, physicians must respect the origins of those fears and understand the most effective means of addressing them. The new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has infected over 7.6 million Americans and killed over 213,000 since its first appearance in the United States in February 2020. (as of October 10, 2020). Responses to the virus, such as limiting venues where person-to-person transmission was likely and demanding the use of masks and physical separation measures where social contact could not be avoided, have slowed the spread of the infection.