Fans of the late Jimmy Buffett may recall the first stage of dawning awareness expressed by the poet in “Margaritaville.” Verse one concludes with:
But I know, it’s nobody’s fault.
I thought of this when I read the May 3, 2024, New York Times report titled Thousands Believe Covid Vaccines Harmed Them. Is Anyone Listening? The piece suggests that America’s newspaper of record is no longer embracing total denial, but is now in a cognitive state approximating that of the boozy poet in verse one—that is, acknowledging that there’s a problem.
For her part, Dr. Janet Woodcock seems to be verging on the poet’s mental state at the end of verse two:
Now I think, hell it could be my fault.”
But in a recent interview, Dr. Janet Woodcock, a longtime leader of the Food and Drug Administration, who retired in February, said she believed that some recipients had experienced uncommon but “serious” and “life-changing” reactions beyond those described by federal agencies.
“I feel bad for those people,” said Dr. Woodcock, who became the F.D.A.’s acting commissioner in January 2021 as the vaccines were rolling out. “I believe their suffering should be acknowledged, that they have real problems, and they should be taken seriously.”
“I’m disappointed in myself,” she added. “I did a lot of things I feel very good about, but this is one of the few things I feel I just didn’t bring it home.”
Dr. Gregory Poland, editor in chief of the journal Vaccine, is feeling sorry for himself, though he hasn’t yet taken to drink.
[Dr. Poland] said that a loud whooshing sound in his ears had accompanied every moment since his first shot, but that his entreaties to colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to explore the phenomenon, tinnitus, had led nowhere.
He received polite responses to his many emails, but “I just don’t get any sense of movement,” he said.
“If they have done studies, those studies should be published,” Dr. Poland added. In despair that he might “never hear silence again,” he has sought solace in meditation and his religious faith.
I suspect that the Times report is the first step in overcoming denial. There are still powerful forces arrayed against the truth, but it appears that awareness is dawning. Eventually a ranking member of the vaccine cartel will find it impossible to deny the truth of the widespread harms caused by the COVID-19 mass vaccination program. Like the poet in verse three of “Margaritaville,” he will arrive at the ultimate recognition:
But I know, it’s my own damn fault.
