“It is an ignorance of medical facts.”
David Attenborough has described anti-vaxxers as an ‘ignorant minority’, but expressed sympathy towards those who find it difficult to trust science they do not understand.
With conspiracy theories surrounding vaccines spreading like a contagious virus, everyone’s favourite wildlife broadcaster and national treasure explained that if people who fear the vaccine get an upper hand in the debate by frightening others, “you’re in a serious situation.”
He told Channel 4 News: “It is an ignorance of medical fact and if you don’t understand it, it’s very easy to mistrust it.
“After all, you’re dealing with something precious with your own body, your own life, and you wish to protect that. Quite right too. And if you don’t understand what a vaccination actually does and to some degree how it does it then you say ‘keep off me’.
“If there are people who say that and then get the upper hand in trying to persuade people and frightening people who don’t understand then you’re in a serious situation.”
“It is an ignorance of medical facts.”
Sir David Attenborough says “it’s easy to mistrust” the vaccine if people don’t understand how it works – but it is a “great triumph of medicine”. pic.twitter.com/RVf5OqYlkq
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) February 2, 2021
Several vaccines have been approved and are gradually being given out to Britons, with the elderly and vulnerable top of the priority list.
Despite concerns around the 12-week gap between first and second doses, recent data suggests both AstraZeneca/Oxford jab remains 76 per cent effective for the whole three months between doses, while Pfizer/Biontech jab kicks in after a week and provides 90 per cent immunity after day 21-post vaccination.
