RECENTLY, I encountered the following article on Bloomberg: “Philippine Health Worker Who Had One Vaccine Dose Died of COVID.”
The article emphasized that the healthcare worker did not die from inoculation, but most people, I think, will have second thoughts about believing them.
Why the lack of trust?
It’s because no one’s sure what to believe in regards to corona and that is because the pandemic is widely politicized.
The politicization of the coronavirus is something that has happened all over the world. In fact, a quick search of the word “politicization” reveals several articles that are related to the pandemic.
So, what’s happening here?
Obviously, any pandemic involves a certain amount of politics. However, the level of corona-related politicization is getting ridiculous. Looking at the news, both here and abroad, it seems as though the coronavirus is being used more as a bludgeon to damage political enemies rather than as a pandemic.
Just look up news regarding Dr. Anthony Fauci, ex-President John Magufuli and anti-lockdown movement across the world. And those are just the tips of the iceberg.
So how did we get here?
I blame global and national institutions. The way health institutions have handled the ongoing pandemic is the reason why corona has become so politicized. I still remember when the World Health Organization said the coronavirus was nothing to worry about. That was the first time the pandemic was politicized, but it seems things have gotten worse as the pandemic expanded.
Statistics about the pandemic was poorly handled, and it seemed as though politics, not science, was driving the general narrative. This explains why there’s so much distrust of medical institutions all over the world, including our very own Inter-Agency Taskforce for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
So when state institutions start complaining about fake news, they should first look at their own shortcomings. If they messed up, they shouldn’t get angry at people for having second thoughts about trusting them./PN
