CNN anchor Fareed Zakaria argued on Sunday’s episode of “GPS” that governments have played it too safe on measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Zakaria said, “This pandemic brought out the crazy in all of us. We have been selective about the science we take seriously and the stuff we disregard. We have been more moved by vivid anecdotes than by scholarly studies. I start to worry when even the experts seem irrational. Consider the decision from the CDC and the FDA to recommend pausing distribution of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after six cases of severe blood clots were reported. The damage is done, fueling fears about vaccine conspiracy theories. 7 million Americans have safely received the vaccine. That is 0.0002% of a chance of a blood clot. One point-five of COVID-19 patients still die from the virus. In other words, even if all the blood clots prove fatal, and most have not been, the virus would be thousands of times more dangerous than the vaccine.”
He added, “There is a pattern to the problem. Politicians and governments are much too worried about the chance of something bad happening on their watch, no matter how unlikely. There has been a reluctance to send children back to school even though numerous studies have found the risk quite low if precautions are taken. And while the dangers are exaggerated, few people think about massive benefits to society, to children, to parents, to the economy as a whole if schools would reopen fast.”
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