Needles
Tonight, and last night and every night on the TV news there are video recordings of people being vaccinated: now the very young and the old, the Black and Brown, people in nursing homes, on Indian reservations and in neighborhood pharmacies. In every case, we are treated to the shot of the needle going into the arm.
Most of the time we get a face, sometimes a wincing face or one turned away from the vaccinator, eyes closed, the sight of the needle entering one’s own flesh apparently causing mild—or severe—anxiety. Oftentimes the video clips are accompanied by experts touting the need for and effectiveness of vaccines, background music to the main story, a needle going into an arm.
Why, when we now know that some significant percentage of people—16-25% in a recent British study—have an inordinate fear of needles, are we given this same program night after night after night?
Two close friends who don’t like needles don’t like to watch other people getting needled. They overcame their fears to get vaccinated, but it wasn’t easy, and our continuing use of the looped video doesn’t make them feel any better.
If those of us who believe that vaccinating as many people as possible is what we all need, why don’t we stop this nonsense right now? What good does it do?
And what harm? What if some significant number of the vaccine resistant, and even a few of those espousing personal freedom over everything, are needle phobic? What if we publicly offered sedatives and more private places for them, if we helped rather than taunted?
Let’s start by asking our news shows to stop showing video of pained and scared, anxious and bold humans with needles in their arms.
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