I think part of the difference we saw with COVID was the symptoms being very similar to influenza. People have been brushing off the flu for decades and didn’t see any reason to be bothered by something they see as similar. Not necessarily mistrust, just apathy.
That being said, the anti-vaxxers that ended up losing family members to COVID by and large became non-antivaxxers. A few persisted of course, but that direct experience changed a lot of people’s minds. They have nothing in their memory, or their parents memory that could compare to that.
With measles it was a lot more visual in nature, so it was a lot more obvious what was happening. I think COVID would have been taken a lot more seriously if it had given people a rash all over their body, or if they started bleeding from their eyes or something.
I think part of the difference we saw with COVID was the symptoms being very similar to influenza. People have been brushing off the flu for decades and didn’t see any reason to be bothered by something they see as similar. Not necessarily mistrust, just apathy.
That being said, the anti-vaxxers that ended up losing family members to COVID by and large became non-antivaxxers. A few persisted of course, but that direct experience changed a lot of people’s minds. They have nothing in their memory, or their parents memory that could compare to that.
With measles it was a lot more visual in nature, so it was a lot more obvious what was happening. I think COVID would have been taken a lot more seriously if it had given people a rash all over their body, or if they started bleeding from their eyes or something.