[fsh]

This post is a perfect example how some political groups have weaponized the messy way science works.

When the vaccines were originally rolled out, they did a great job at preventing infections and transmission. This was clearly seen in the original clinical trials and in early epidemiological data and was reported that way by officials and media outlets. However, it later turned out that COVID is much better at mutating to evade immunity than was originally assumed. While the vaccines stayed highly effective at reducing mortality, vaccinated people could get infected by and transmit the new variants. There was then a concerted effort to re-frame our lack of knowledge about coronaviruses as a deliberate lie by scientists and authorities. The insidious thing is that this strategy is quite hard to defend against. Many people are much more willing to believe in a grand conspiracy, than that we simply didn't know that much about this type of virus.

[roenxi]

Are you suggesting that flu-like viruses are a new phenomenon? We've probably had flu-like viruses for longer than we've had the word virus! Flu vaccines are an annual event! The scientists knew exactly what would happen and were surely saying "this is what is going to happen...".

The issue is the authoritarians pushing the COVID measures had no time for actual science and didn't care about the opinions of the scientists. That was what was so galling about the follow-the-science types - they weren't listening to scientists. They were often actively obstructing any debate where scientists could argue things out in public.

[fsh]

Yes, pandemic coronavirus are a very new phenomenon. Only a single one (SARS) has been observed before. However, its spread was contained early enough such that its adaption to a large population was not observed. Even two of the four "common cold" coronaviruses (HKU1 and NL63) were discovered as late as 2004. Note that coronaviruses are completely unrelated to "the flu" (influenza).