As a primary care physician, I administer vaccines on a regular basis, from flu to tetanus to pneumonia to shingles.
I bring these vaccines out during doctor visits, and I discuss the pros and cons with my patients while the vaccines are being displayed.
I am completely open about potential side effects.
The core vaccine conversation between doctor and patient is a risk/benefit analysis.
It’s a discussion, one in which the patient decides.
One of the big mistakes made by the Biden administration with the COVID vaccines is not having this discussion.
Rather than keeping expectations realistic — telling folks that the vaccine would lessen the severity of COVID, instead of preventing a patient from getting it — the administration forced as many as it could to get the jab through mandates.
Instead of being up front that there was a slight risk of side effects, the administration put pressure on social media companies to censor any discussion.
Now we have research data from the Global Vaccine Data Network that detail exactly what risks accompany the COVID vaccines.
The study found what has been shown previously in smaller studies — that side effects from the vaccines are mostly mild, but they aren’t non-existent.
The study showed an association between the mRNA vaccines and rare myocarditis, and between the Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine — which was never approved for use in the United States — and pericarditis, Guillain-Barre syndrome and other neurological complications.
The Moderna mRNA vaccine was also associated with a slight increased risk of brain swelling.
Conspiracy theorists will take this as vindication.
It isn’t, for the simple reason that the study also determined that the risk of a neurological problem from COVID was more than 600 times higher than from the vaccine.
But such was the mistake of the Biden administration’s squashing of dissent that any discussion of side effects makes them look like liars.
The truth is that COVID mRNA vaccines have side effects, including rarely myocarditis, but studies have also shown that they decrease the risk of myocarditis from COVID itself.
The benefits of the vaccines far outweigh the risks, particularly for older Americans.
It’s a discussion — not a demand — we should have had from the beginning.
A discussion that would have been easier had the White House asked primary-care doctors to be the ones to discuss and administer the vaccine.
The vaccine mandates only helped to sow distrust in government, and lowered vaccine acceptance in general.
Which is devastating because vaccines for children, particularly for measles and mumps, have saved millions of lives.
Plus, the public drive to squash any criticism of the vaccine along with downplaying side effects helped lead to a blossoming of conspiracy theories, anger and confusion.
This should be a real lesson for any administration going forward.
Marc Siegel, MD, is a clinical professor of medicine and medical director of Doctor Radio at NYU Langone Health and a Fox News medical analyst.