How to combat vaccine hesitancy? Stop censoring experts...

I don't consider myself vaccine hesitant, because I have had them all.  Looking at my immunization record book I see that I've had: Polio, MMR, dTap, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Meningitis, and while it's not listed I know I've also taken a shot for Tetanus.

The big one lacking of course is the Covid shot, or shots I guess.  

Why not?  There are a number of reasons actually.  

Firstly I've never been worried about this Covid bug, like a large segment of the population (many of whom have rolled up their sleeves regardless) I've never been concerned about contracting this virus.  I know the world is a dangerous place, there are influenzas, RSV, staph infections, streps, gastro intestinal bugs and on and on.  The world is full of pathogens, any one of which can be incredibly serious and sometimes fatal.  Younger healthy people die in this country all the time, it happened before Covid, and it will happen after Covid.  

Another reason is the speed at which they were developed.  While it's true that a number of roadblocks were removed, and vaccine developers went "all in" on the development of these shots, science hasn't solved the problem of speeding up the calendar.  Establishing a long term safety profile takes time, and none of the authorized shots has even completed its Phase 3 trial.  Moderna's is first up with an estimated study completion date in October of 2022, more than a year from today.

But probably the single biggest reason for my hesitancy is the censorship of basically anyone who dares to raise questions. I don't have a degree in any field of science or medicine, so I am not qualified to speak to this with any degree of expertise.  I have taken science courses at the University level, undergraduate studies, so I'm not completely scientifically illiterate, but I know I'm out of my depth. 

Someone like Dr. Robert Malone however is absolutely qualified.  Google is now the expert on everything that is true and false, of anything that qualifies as misinformation.  Fair enough, and according to Google Scholar Dr. Robert Malone is an inventor of both mRNA and DNA vaccines.  He has an impecable academic CV which includes highly respected schools like Northwestern and Harvard, and he worked at the prestigious Salk Institute.  

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Jf1bApYAAAAJ&hl=en

But he is now censored and deplatformed due to his views on these vaccines.  His concerns over the potential for long term safety issues is banned with near Nazi type zeal.  One has to go to some alternative site like Rumble or Bitchute in order to hear him.  His video with Dr. Weinstein enumerating some of his concerns has been tossed down YouTube's memory hole.

Dr. Byram Bride, a viral immunologist with Guelph University is another.  He was considered esteemed enough that his lab at Guelph U was awarded $230,000 from Ontario's government to study four vaccines under development back in May of 2020.  Now he too is being censored, although having no real social media footprint to speak of deplatforming wasn't needed.  That didn't stop others from creating fake Twitter accounts that published dubious tweets in his name in an attempt to slander this respected academic.  

There's Dr. Michael Yeadon a former VP and a Chief Science Officer at Pfizer, Nobel Prize Winning Dr. Luc Montagnier, Dr. Francis Christian a highly esteemed surgeon from Saskatchewan, Dr. Hodkinson of Alberta a Cambridge educated recognized expert on pathology, Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche who's held senior roles in vaccine development with GSK, Novartis, GAVI and even with the Gates Foundation. 

And there are dozens more, maybe even hundreds....all being censored and deplatformed.  

If public health officials really want to combat vaccine hesitancy, then have an open public forum and invite some of these individuals to speak.  Rather than engaging in intellectually weak ad hominem attacks, confront their opinions and the data and facts they're presenting....rather than just censoring them for being guilty of thought crime.  

Science isn't really a thing, it's more of a process of evolving evidence.  What is believed to be true today can later be found to be false.  Lots of drugs are approved after being deemed safe and effective, only later to be taken off the market when dangers are discovered, some after 2 or 3 years, sometimes 5 years, and sometimes decades.  The older set knows about Thalidomide of course, but for many that's ancient history, something that could never happen again.  

Here's 10 that are far more recent for those who want to read some more.  Many post the year 2000.  

10 dangerous drugs recalled by the FDA