FORUM: One-sided reporting on Covid-19 issues amplifies ‘vaccine hesitancy’


The following is commentary intended for discussion. Add your comments.

Some public health officials are presenting one-sided and, sometimes, inaccurate information in an attempt to push as many people as possible to get the Covid-19 vaccine.

It seems clear theses officials believe they need to do so to meet their goals, and those of the vaccine industry.

The media assists with weirdly one-sided reporting that pretends as though there are only benefits to vaccination, ignores natural immunity, and pretends there are no incidences of side effects from vaccination.

It’s contrary to how any normal news story used to be covered.

Today, there is no time or space given to full scientific studies and views if they are not in line with what the government and vaccine industry are promoting.

News personalities and reporters openly serve as advocates for one side in controversies rather than presenters of information.

Rare instances of healthy people dying of Covid are given great prominence– as long as the victims were unvaccinated. Stories of people who get sick and regret not getting vaccinated are also reported in a one-sided fashion and given great attention.

Never is there a balance of viewpoints or stories highlighting the majority of people who recover from Covid-19, or who get it and have no symptoms, or are who are injured by the vaccine and regret their decision to get vaccinated.

What the public health officials and media fail to grasp is that the very strategy they’re using to try to convince the public to get vaccinated ends up making many people skeptical of the advice and of vaccination when they otherwise might not have been.

Millions of Americans are reading studies that don’t get much publicity, have doctors who are giving them information contrary to the public health narrative, and are using their own common sense.

So they recognize they are only getting part of the story in much of the media and from public health officials.

That makes them wonder: what else are these entities hiding? They become skeptical of everything.

Public health officials haven’t figured out that even with a great deal of censorship of factual information that’s contrary to the government-vaccine narrative, people still seek knowledge and have ways to get impartial information.

Instead of advocating for one path only in the face of emerging science or scientific controversies, public health officials and the media should take care to acknowledge what’s disputed and what’s unknown.

The best way to build confidence in public health advice, and to repair the damage in confidence, is for public health officials to be forthright and accurate in presenting information.

What do you think? Leave your comments below.


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42 thoughts on “FORUM: One-sided reporting on Covid-19 issues amplifies ‘vaccine hesitancy’”

  1. Greg the American

    There is a particular political persuasion to those participating in the one-sided advocacy. It does not happen to be mine. In fact, I’ve watched this crew of fake news purveyors fulfill the role of enemy-of-the-people quite nicely as they have been revealed to even their apologists.

    Regarding the issue, I think large percentages of Americans can finally see this propaganda for what it is, and if they’re advocating for something such as the vaccine, we know the issue may not be the issue. If the bad guys are using all the tools in the toolbox to compel America to do something in contradiction to previously known facts and current science, well….they’re the bad guys, and in every sense of the word they’ve done the wrong thing, as a group, for the last 5 years. Why would I not “hesitate”. It’s a little like Lex Luthor trying to give Superman a glowing green piece of candy.

    1. Absolutely ~ except it’s been going on much longer. The corporate media have ignored, misreported, or lied about vaccine damage and efficacy, taxes, the economy, march for life, the Gosnell trial, the tea party ~ a whole host of conservative issues for well over a decade. Those of us who remember the multiple passes Wm Jeff Clinton got and the Obama sycophancy have long known to seek out other news sources and are relatively certain that there is likely a truth hidden behind the liberal advocasy.

      As I’ve been sharing this site and a few others it is interesting to watch the reactions shift, and how angry the “less aware” people are becoming with media.

  2. I agree. the difference between people who watch the news and those who don’t is staggering. I truly believe they have been brainwashed. Finding opposing views is getting harder but has only strengthened my resolve. I will not get the vaccine. I have spoken to Doctors and other people I trust who have serious reservations. I still have not heard a sufficient explanation for the reports on VAERS. Thank you for the great reporting.

  3. You talk about what would be needed to “rebuild confidence in public health”.

    At this point I don’t think ANYTHING would rebuild that confidence. I have been lied to, harmed, pressured and manipulated one too many times.

    I now blow off ALL official health sources as fraudulent – the FDA, the CDC, Medicare, my health plan, my clinic, my pharmacy, my city, my state – I now give their pronouncements about as much credibility as a late night infomercial.

    I place my trust in a new, different, alternate set of news outlets and sources – such as this site, which is part of that growing inter-connected network.

  4. I think this is spot on. I’ve had numerous discussions with friends where the most agreed upon part of the conversation is, “I just want data so I can make the right decisions for me and my family.” All too often we get a one-sided story.

    How can an ABC story that complete downgrades Ivermectin as only a treatment for animals coincide with stories about numerous studies and even its use in entire states in India with significantly positive results?

    How can we reconcile the results from the VAERS database in the past 8 months compared to the previous 30 years and not be a bit skeptical. There cannot be trust when the only answer is, “This is completely safe for everyone including young kids, pregnant women, those who have auto-immune. diseases, etc.”

    I want to trust the options but as Sheryl notes, a one-sided story with a complete negation of any other facts teaches us something far different than trust.

    1. I don’t know if it is still available online or not but several months ago I got information from Europe that pointed out that almost 4,000 died after receiving a covid shot and about 160,000 had severe reactions to the shot from which they will not recover from.

  5. The first problem that those of us who are “vaccine hesitant” encounter is the technology itself. It is unreasonable to expect people to latch onto to a technology that has never been used for this type of treatment on any scale much less a large scale. Common sense, logic informs us that it is physically impossible to know and have tested any and all permutations of the technology and both its short term and long term impact on overall health let alone efficacy. Those valid thought and questions were shot down and hidden from the public square.

    Secondly, it was clear from the beginning of the pandemic that obvious data were being overlooked with regard to those who were being hospitalized for a length over two days and those who ended up in an ICU and those who died. The numbers were the same everywhere in the world. These people invariably were over the age of 75 had significant health issues and comorbidity. Yet, the health authorities acted as if the virus was impacting healthy people the same way, when it wasn’t. Worse this is still the case. Therefore, as the vast majority are healthy enough to fight off the virus, healthy enough to fight through the virus if sickened and a nearly statistical number of zero die from the virus why the urgent need for lockdowns, masking and then a fully experimental vaccine?

    As you have stated, Sharyl, the brushing off and then censoring of both question and divergent opinion has had an effect on whether or not to have the vaccine, but worse it shows a callous disregard for the scientific method and an unexplainable drive to push a vaccine the majority don’t need, which begs the question… why?

  6. There is no “public health.” Only individual health. Public health “officials” are statist bureaucrats and, as such, they can never be trusted.

  7. Pure & simple:
    Political Science
    for
    Political Money

    Corruption sets the standards
    You want the Funding?
    You sing the Tunes

  8. Sharyl:

    “Normal” news reporting has been gone for quite some time. Personally I recognized it back in 2012 during the news cover-up of the IRS targeting conservatives – though via your excellent book “The Smear” you trace the beginnings to much earlier.

    Such behavior from the media and Government officials on this topic is a part of the broader false narrative being inflicted on this country and the world by the established political class in a desperate effort to hold on to power. Therefore, because of their need to support “the narrative” people’s health isn’t their primary concern – if it’s even a concern for them at all.

  9. We will never prove this virus was released until Dr. Tom Martin’s emails between Fauci and Daczek in 2015 are widely disseminated. When you look at this from the perspective of this virus being released to bring forth the already developed vaccines to realize profits, you will see all of this lines up between the global elitists, governments, Pharma, and MSM.

  10. This is EXACTLY spot on. When the government and media collude to try to silence notable, distinguished scientists from presenting / articulating their views … concerns… that is counter to the governments agenda … everyone’s warning alarms should go off.

    1. True, I am listening to top virologists like Geert Vanden Bossche and Robert Malone Who have spent their lives working with viruses and vaccines. But I am supposed to dismiss them as quacks and instead take government’s word for it that the vaccine was not rushed and it’s perfectly safe and fully effective.

  11. I’ll answer this by pasting a response that I made on a facebook post.

    ” (1) To those who love to blame everything on the un v a c, have you taken into account that the numbers may not be differentiating between those who have already gotten c o v, versus those who have not?

    There have been hundreds of thousands of people who have not received a v a c, but who have also, already gotten c o v, and may already be immune.

    (2) There have been tons of v a c people who have been spreading c o v of late.

    What’s the difference if you, or for that matter, someone you know, ends up getting c o v from someone who is v a c or un v a c?

    Are the un v a c going to magically start spreading a worse form of c o v?

    Does your protection depend upon who is spreading the c o v?

    (3) Have you ever considered the possibility that the new mutations could be the result of an adaptation to the v a c?

    (4) Have you considered the possibility that the increase in numbers might have something to do with the recent flood of migrants?

    (5) You claim that people who don’t v a c are out to kill everybody.

    Well, 2 can play that game!

    There is chance that even those who are v a c can still spread the virus.

    I therefore demand for said people to stay the hell away from me!

    I also don’t want to see them anywhere near a Gym, Restaurant, Theater, Sporting Event, Concert, Airplane, etc!

    If I do, then you I will have them arrested for being a SuperSpreader!

    (6) You claim that I should just trust the “experts”.

    Well that’s really rich coming from people who are normally anti-authoritarian and anti-corporate!
    It’s really rich coming from people who grew up with poor role-models and authority figures!

    I’m not saying that everyone who’s in a position of authority is evil.

    However, I also find it quite fascinating, that you are so quick to put your trust in people who are in positions of authority and power.

    I should put my trust in Dr. Fraudci? (the guy who has ties to gain of function research with the w u h a n lab)

    Do you not even realize how the world works?

    Allow me to give you a refresher on the concept of evil.

    (1) Evil have always inserted themselves into higher positions of authority. Technological advances have now enabled them to do so on a more wider and global scale.

    (2) Hijack a cause, (sometimes, even create said cause) and then use it to promote their agenda.

    (3) Create a propaganda/fear campaign (combination of authority + media) to create a state of panic/emotional instability.

    (4) This panic in turn, creates a state of compliance and obedience. It shuts off the brain/causes people to stop thinking for themselves. (brainwashing)

    (5) Use the masses to put people in line.

    ”How can you go against such and such authority?”
    “If you don’t comply, then you are an alt-right, white supremacist, neo -n a z i , science denying, conspiracy nut, anti- v a c er, who’s out to kill everyone and everything in existence.”

    (6) Use this newfound power to completely cut off any access to the opposition. (How would you even know if there was a problem with masks/v a c deaths when you are not allowed to even post about it?)

    Lets take the UN for example.

    It’s been infiltrated by human rights abusers.

    Again, I’m not saying that everyone who works at the Pharmaceutical companies, FDA, CDC, WHO, etc, are all evil.

    They could just simply be ignorant/going along with what’s already been established from the higher ups in their company/field.

    (7) You want to call me an anti v a c?

    Allow me to correct you!

    I am pro not getting an experimental jab (It’s only emergency approved. These types of drugs normally take up to 10 years for full approval) from corporations that have previously been sued over the years for billions, (for practices such as off-label use, hiding research, etc. They should be arrested instead, but I guess that they are deemed too powerful) and who are exempt from liability, (they can’t be sued for v a c) especially when, I have already gotten over c o v, haven’t had one iota of a symptom for about a year afterwards, am extremely unlikely to get it a second time, and have over a 99% chance of survival!

  12. The insanity of the idea of being virtually forced to allow someone to inject an experimental concoction into your arm is mind blowing. Extraordinary bodily invasions require extraordinary evidence, and they give none except the repetition of the mantra that it is “perfectly safe and effective” ad nauseam, like we are morons. This is about something much bigger than covid.

  13. It takes a lot of time to really test out a new vaccine but it is time to actually do the animal tests to get a vaccine that poses the lowest undesirable effect on humans. Most vaccines have undesirable side effects but those can be held to a minimum with proper testing.

  14. YES AND THIS IS THE SAME WAY THE DNC USED THE VIRUS AT THE START. TO STILL THE WHITE HOUSE.NOW USEING IT TO COVER THE STILL. NO NEWS IN DAYS ABOUT THE ELECTION. A BIG MISSLEAD. AND WHEN YOU ADD THAT THE DNC SENT MILLIONS TO THAT LAB THAT MADE THIS VIRUS .ANDF TRUMP TRYED TO STOP THAT MONEY . BUT THE DNC BLOCKED HIM. THIS TELL ME AND MANY THAT THE DNC PAYED CHINA TO MAE THIS VIRUS AND DID SO WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS. AND WHEN YOU ASS ALL THEY HAVE GAINED FRON THIS . IT IS HARD NOT TO SEE IT

  15. This must be stressful for honest people employed by many governments, corporations, and media. It’s also stressful for ordinary citizens who are trying to inform themselves, who realize that major “information” sources in general aren’t trustworthy. I have to spend way too much time consulting reliable, but underfunded and scope-limited sources (including Sharyl, as well as Corbett Report, Wirepoints, Wolf Street, and others) who provide honest reports but cannot be as comprehensive as mainstream media pretends to be. It’s diverting me from the work I am supposed to be doing.

  16. Vaccine hesitancy is no different from any other new product being introduced to the market – there will always be early users, as well as late comers who wait to ascertain its value to themselves. There will also always be buyers’ remorse – more likely for the early users than the late comers, however. As an example, it took 30 years for people to universally accept that electricity in their homes was beneficial. I have never been an early user, hurrying to buy the latest version of someone’s cell phone, or even cell phones at all for that matter. Or rushing out to try the newest restaurant in town. As for vaccines specifically, I quit doing that as soon as I was out of the navy – not a fan of being forced to do anything. If it were so obviously good for me, why would there be a need for a mandate?

  17. The scientific industrial complex has had this approach from the beginning of this crisis. Mislead and bury information to achieve desired results. See Fauci claiming masks aren’t needed when we were running out of PPE. Breakthrough infection is another example. Tell the truth we can handle it.

  18. If I have decided not to take the 1st two gene therapy shots, with their rapidly waning immunity, why in God’s name does the govt think I would actually take the booster? I will trust my God given immune system anytime over a highly questionable experimental therapy shot.

  19. Marc Maximilien Authier

    I am absolutely NON hesitatn to offer my Body to EVIL PFIZER and EVIL MODERNA as a human guines pig and a human laboratory rat. I leave it to the stupid Israelites who love indeed nazi like Dr Mengele ( Dr Bourla and Dr Fauci) weird gene therapy that transform your own DNA in a GMO !!!!!!!! i wonder how they can call us hesitant. We are far from hesitant. The more educated and science savy you are (most of us have a PhD) the more we are sure we do not want to be experimented like in NAZI LIKE experiment. I have a master in finance. It also helps to know what criminal big pharma really wants. People like Dr Fauci and Dr Bourla and Bill Gates are blood suckers. They want us all real sick and chronically sick with thousands of booster shots. The goal of these pseudo vaccines are in reality the destruction of the innate immune system. And the goal is indeed perpetual shots for their crap pseudo vaccines.

  20. “It’s contrary to how any normal news story used to be covered.”

    An interesting “then and now” comparison, as it pertains to this particular “news story” –i.e. vaccines and the news coverage of such–would be how the MSM covered the Swine Flu vaccine, created and aggressively promoted by our government under President Ford, in/or about 1976.
    I recall there was a lot of skepticism and “vaccine hesitancy” on the part of the general public (only 32% eventually got the vaccine), but I don’t recall how exactly the MSM of the day covered the whole story, from outbreak (at Army base Fort Dix) to mass vaccination efforts.
    I do recall, however, when a small percentage of the vaccinated developed Guillian-Barre Syndrome as a side effect of the vaccine, they reported that fact rather intensely.

  21. I’ve been told that the recent “FDA approval” the media is touting is actually inaccurate and false, but I can’t find any link or document or explanation – anyone have more info on this? I work for a local government and any second now I’m expecting a mandate – get it or lose it – I’m fully prepared to demand a religious exemption, have all my ducks in a row, but I’m getting more and more nervous listening to the workplace rumor mill and this supposed FDA approval (which shouldn’t even have happened until 2023 at the earliest. My workplace doesn’t even enforce the mask mandate (they tell the shot takers they’re okay, but tell the rest of us to put it on – the mandate in place says “regardless of status”) but there you go! They want everyone to plainly see which of us did it, and which of us has a brain and uses it!

  22. It is sad that so many people have such a difficult time getting objective and timely information on this issue . Information that is not skewed by the press, the politicians, and the media. It is evident that folks reading Sharyl Attkisson newsletter’s are finding information that is not inside the lame stream media box, and not censored by big tech. This information needs to become mainstream.

  23. I would like to see a poll of vaccinated, had they waited, would have chosen to not get the jab. I did not because the long term effects have yet to be determined and I was not willing to participate in that experiment. When the vaccinated start dying from side effects there will be a much bigger emergency.

  24. I am aware of two people who were fully vaccinated and caught COVID. They were briefly hospitalized and recovered after receiving monoclonal antibody treatment. When they felt better, they checked their hospital paper-work and found they were labeled as “unvaccinated.” This might begin to explain why a nation like Israel has admitted that most of their new COVID cases are in vaccinated people and yet the U.S. says we have “an epidemic of the unvaccinated.” Maybe we are not being given accurate information here.

  25. Very timely. I had just read Yahoo News’ latest ivermectin hit piece – facts available at c19study.com – and was wondering why no one else was seeing it.

    Thanks.

  26. All good points. I dug back into college biology to resurrect information on DNA, RNA and the human immune system. The vaccine was the right thing for me, since I am in a high risk group. It may not be the same for others.

  27. My hesitancy is due to the lack of debate and outright censorship about the safety of vaccines, the true numbers of patients dying FROM SARS-COV-2 rather than WITH it, the efficacy of masks, vaccine-related injuries and deaths, therapeutics like HCQ and Ivermectin, etc. There’s no informed consent without that debate. It’s gotten to the point that I probably won’t even get a flu vaccine this year because I no longer trust the CDC or NIH. The insane push to vaccinate children – even babies! – without knowing if there will be long-term side effects really crosses the line. The desperate push for vaccination rather than therapeutics is extremely suspicious. What’s behind it – money, big pharma?

  28. You have to ask yourself why would the CDC restricted the use of ivermectin, and hydroxycloriquine in the fight against Covid? You would think if getting over the pandemic was the goal then all tools to combat it would be left on the table. Why not push prevention. Several prominent physicians have stated zinc, vitamins B12, D, C are huge when it comes to prevention. But you don’t hear any of this. All you hear is the push to get vaccinated. Something stinks!

  29. Next time you go into a cemetery, see if you find any baby graves. Look at the dates of birth and death. See how close the death date is to the 2-, 4, or 6-month “well baby” checkup dates. The other day, I saw a grave with the baby’s death date being only one day after his 4-month birthday. I’m guessing there are many such graves, with babies who may well be alive today if the parents had resisted those “well baby” visits.

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