The hour of battle between rationalism and conspiracy theories

By Aris Ravanos

A quite substantial percentage of the Greek population refuses to get the COVID-19 vaccine, and of course they provide a variety of justifications for this.

Obviously, it is only natural that you will have citizens who harbour concerns about the effectiveness or safety of the vaccine.

For their stance, a large measure of responsibility belongs to doctors with a variety of medical specialties who over the last months were sending conflicting messages and created confusion.

However, the media also bear a weighty responsibility in the coverage of the pandemic.

For all these people, one needs to intensify the campaign of persuasion by individuals who are not so exposed in the media and who do not stir negativism with what they say and how they say it.

On the other hand, one is confronted with a strong ant-vaccine front comprised of people who are swayed by conspiracy theories and pseudo-metaphysical claptrap.

The majority of these individuals will stubbornly refuse to change their stance, however many governmental decisions and public health measures may be announced.

Quite recently when I went to buy a cup of coffee, I heard a group of customers spewing opinions about the vaccine altering DNA, eschatology and the Book of Revelation, the largest clinical experiment in the world, and other such nonsense.

I stood by at a distance for about a quarter of an hour to listen to the conversation and became convinced that it is extremely difficult to change the opinion of this category of citizens.

Yet, the first category must be persuaded. This is an hour of responsibility for everyone regardless of what post they may hold. This is a collective struggle.

Everyone can persuade a few people - or...