Vaccination Deliberation

Navigating the Questions While Awaiting Some Answers

T.K. Fenske, MD, FRCPC

The COVID crisis has effectively divided our country, our culture, the provinces, churches, workplaces, social circles, and even our families. Emotions are running high and the dividing lines have been dug deep, separating out pro- and anti-lockdowns, pro- and anti-masking, pro- and anti-government control, and no less pitting those who are pro-vaccination against those who are leery. While I would be rightly placed in the pro-vaccination camp, I can appreciate the vaccine hesitancy that many are holding to in these troubled times. Numerous legitimate questions of concern have been raised regarding the next-generation vaccines developed to counter our pandemic. Adequate answers seem elusive, and are hard to separate out from the maelstrom of bombarding data. As a medical specialist, I too have been overwhelmed by the “info-demic” of daily data. There seems no end to the flood of late-breaking news headlines, YouTube debates, gloom-and-doom podcasts, and medical journal commentaries. Agenda seems rife at every turn and in every piece, and you begin to wonder, who can you trust?