, Columnist
The Vaccine-Hesitant Could Use Some Friendly Shame
Talking down won’t work, but appealing to responsibility might. Excerpt from “The Shame Machine: Who Profits in the New Age of Humiliation.”
Not necessarily ignorant.
Photographer: Eric Lee/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The experience of the global Covid-19 pandemic raises a troubling question about the state of human society: Why would so many otherwise intelligent people refuse vaccines that can save their lives and help protect their friends and loved ones?
The answer lies to a large extent in shame, and in the ways government officials, scientists and community leaders should and shouldn’t deploy it.