We need a plan to counter the wild speculation & ignorance that will roar to life the day Pfizer's & Moderna's vaccines are authorized by FDA.

This was driven home to me when an ex-student (now a distinguished physician) called me, worried about the new "RNA vaccines." 1/6

2/6 Somewhere she'd heard that these vaccines can "hijack" our cells' genetic machinery. That's completely false & I talked her down off that ledge. But if a never-trump MD/PhD can make that mistake, Joe Magat is going to be howling at the moon about it soon.

3/6 First, we must reject smug snark about 'Darwin Awards' for folks scared away from vaccination by rampant disinformation. These are folks who are making decisions for their innocent family members - kids. We must fight to protect them. Second...

4/6 ...they're productive members of our society: tradesmen, mechanics, farmers, factory workers, truckers. If we're ever to climb out of this hole, we need them healthy & working.

And finally (& most importantly), vaccines are a *means* to an end, not the end itself...

5/6 There's a decent chance we can eradicate this virus from the human environment *if* enough people get vaccinated...just as we've done with smallpox and polio. Otherwise, we can literally kiss goodbye the small but significant number of folks who won't respond to vaccination.

6/6 Flooding the airwaves w/ PSAs promoting vaccination is one necessary step, but not sufficient. Peer-to-peer persuasion will be critically important. So please start asking yourself whom you know who will need persuasion, and how you'll reach them.