How vaccines became victims of their own successFasting, farming, and goals v. values (Issue #278)Published inThe Medium BlogSent as aNewsletter2 min readJust now--Two weeks ago, the U.S. Senate confirmed RFK Jr. as our new Secretary of Health and Human Services. Notably, he doesnt seem to believe the Covid vaccine saved lives.Vaccine hesitancy has risen in the U.S. over the last few years. Belief in vaccine safety fell from 77% in 2021 to 71% in 2023 not a giant drop, but a statistically significant one. Its not without precedent: The term anti-vax was coined in 1800, four years after the smallpox vaccine severely reduced rates of transmission.A vaccine comes out and successfully protects people against a disease. At the same time, people distrust it. Youd expect these trends to be inversely correlated, but theyre not.On Medium, epidemiologist Gideon M-K theorizes: The problem is that vaccines have become a victim of their own success. The once-deadly diseases these vaccines were created to prevent measles, mumps, rubella have now been (almost) eradicated. The result? A society that forgets how bad those diseases were, and that questions the purpose of vaccines.People have no idea what a major measles epidemic looks like, M-K explains, so the idea that vaccines are dangerous is much easier to believe than it was in the 1980s.Im not sure how that logic applies to the Covid vaccine, though. Didnt we all just live through a pandemic? An NIH study namechecks all the typical causes of Covid vaccine skepticism: distrust in government, pharma, and institutions regardless of the fact that Covid vaccines prove effective in clinical trials and in the real world. As we get further from the pandemic, though, and if M-Ks theory proves correct, skepticism will probably increase. This is the story of all preventive medicine: We dont invest in it because it doesnt feel important until it does (and by then its too late).Harris Sockel Were also readingRamadan begins tonight. In the words of engineer Ouz Birinci, The fast eventually ends. New clothes get worn. Special foods mark the celebration. But something has changed inside.British voiceover actress Kay Elvian on the very recent origin of human rights we all take for granted: Did you realise, best beloved, had you or I been born 250 years earlier our lives would, likely, be tending to the land and farming animals? (This was only three human lifetimes ago.)Instead of fixating on goals, focus on values. Think of your values as the soil, and your daily actions as the seeds you plant, advises Catherine McNally. Different plants thrive in different types of soil. A top highlight on Medium this weekYou dont decide your niche. You discover it. Derek HughesDeepen your understanding every day with the Medium Newsletter. Sign up here.Edited and produced by Scott Lamb & Carly GillisQuestions, feedback, or story suggestions? Email us: tips@medium.comLike what you see in this newsletter but not already a Medium member? Read without limits or ads, fund great writers, and join a community that believes in human storytelling.