Thread by @celinegounder

1/ It's not that people who reject vaccines are less scientifically literate than those who don't.

It's about "core beliefs about what we owe one another."

nytimes.com/2021/12/03/opi…
by @anita_sreedhar & @Anand_Gopal_

2/ To build trust in government institutions and the collective,
we need institutions that serve the public
and a society that values everyone,
including the most vulnerable and marginalized among us.

Service & Equity

3/ Is this because lower socioeconomic status correlates with not being served by government institutions?

Being left behind by society?

4/ When government doesn't serve the people,
the people stop believing government.

When it's every person our for themselves,
why care about anyone else?

5/ I *HATE* how the lay media covers health & medicine.

It's all about "personal responsibility," "personal choices," and self-help.

Health isn't about the latest diet or supplement.

There's a reason the best predictor of your health is your zipcode. Health is social.

6/ Why do we blame people's poor health on their personal choices?

So that we, society, may absolve ourselves of our responsibility?

7/ Many medical and public health problems can't be solved by our healthcare system:

8/ I also *HATE* how the lay media promotes this consumerist approach to health.

Health is not a commodity. It's a basic human right.

9/ Working for over a decade in sub-Saharan Africa, I learned this lesson well.

Why do you care about whether I have HIV, which won't kill me for another 10+ years?
Why do you care if I wash my hands to prevent Ebola transmission?

When you don't care if I die of starvation?

10/
Inequity & Lack of Trust
are
a
public health
emergency.

11/ As I wrote:

"To build trust in the health system and public health, it’s essential that we build a public health workforce staffed by the community and with the capacity to serve and be responsive to the community."

usatoday.com/story/opinion/…

12/ Privatization of healthcare
➡️inequity & medical apartheid
at home & abroad

13/ Why do we care about polio in Afghanistan?
But not maternal mortality?

It's selfish, really.
Polio can come to hurt us here.
Women dying in childbirth halfway around the world won't.

14/ Government programs to improve access to healthcare & other social services
improve trust in government.

When people trust the government,
they're more likely to get vaccinated.

15/ Universal, meaning for all.

Why shouldn't we all enjoy good health? clean air? clean water? Why aren't these rights in this country?