Where does the rabbit hole end?

Comparing COVID-19 Vaccinations to the taboo practices of Plague Doctors

Mistrust, Misinformation, and Anti-Institutionalism

When we examine the genesis and limited medical expertise of ancient plague doctors, it prompts us to question how these individuals were even recognized as doctors. Interestingly enough, the great prophet and astrologer Nostradamus was a plague doctor, and while the initial motivation was based on a desire to provide assistance, the sheer presence of these doctors was enough to elicit fear in those they were trying to help. He was rumored to strongly oppose traditional medicine and instead believed that sanitation alone was enough to mitigate infection; his own family tragically passed from it.

These plague doctors had no access to things like antibiotics and were basically just men in bird masks who attempted to ease discomfort among the ill. When comparing the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccinations, could we afford to make the comparison of COVID-19 vaccinations being similar to the plague doctors? Even in some who were vaccinated, they still were infected. For others who weren’t, they somehow avoided contracting it. The scientific data and research regarding the efficacy of these vaccinations remain muddled and subjective in the eyes of the public.

There perhaps isn’t a more political, polarizing, and contentious opinion in medicine and ethics than when it comes to vaccinations. The long-term health issues arising from these mandatory vaccinations challenge the concept of efficacy and imply that they are more a manifestation of political hegemony and groupthink, which gained momentum without any tangible results. Pharmaceutical companies exploited the utter panic and desperation of people during this time and pushed mandates with almost no studies to actually back these extreme policies.

Using veiled language and pandering, they effectively indoctrinated many Americans to believe that injecting oneself with a substance would be the elusive solution we had all been seeking. By boosting immunity and antibodies, we would somehow gain resistance to an airborne illness where others wouldn't. In the following years, we will see firsthand whether these mandatory vaccinations were actually beneficial and whether the positives truly outweighed the negatives.

To me, years removed from the pandemic, it seemed just like a desperate measure taken, much like the frantic, fear-driven society post-bubonic plague. An action taken to restore harmony, faith, and trust in a system that never cared until it profited. Their blind arrogance led them to believe they were sure to stop the pandemic, even if they didn’t start it. Once again, similar to the plague, the COVID-19 pandemic did not end due to vaccinations, but rather due to social distancing and a heightened collective resistance to the virus.