By Nicole Carroll
I'm USA TODAY editor-in-chief Nicole Carroll, and this is The Backstory, insights into our biggest stories of the week.
About 99% of deaths today are people who did not get vaccinated.
About 2,000 people a week in the U.S. are dying from COVID-19, mostly infected by the fast-spreading delta variant, according to a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data.
One of them is my brother, Chris.
But those against the shot are adamant in their beliefs.
Patients dying in hospitals are telling loved ones they regret not getting the vaccine.
He doesn't trust the COVID-19 vaccine, and he's worried about long-term effects years down the road.
Long-term side effects “are extremely unlikely,” according to the CDC, because historically vaccine monitoring has shown side effects appear within six weeks.
I asked him if that would change his mind.
Full authorization for the Pfizer vaccine could come as soon as September
My brother says he's also cautious because the vaccines had only emergency FDA authorization.
Not really, he said, as the FDA is a government organization, and maybe President Joe Biden pressured them to approve it. "Because Biden wants me to get it so bad, that makes me skeptical of getting it," Chris said.
Does politics play into his decision not to get a vaccine?
"He’s going overboard trying to sell it.”
Absolutely, he says.
He doesn't trust President Biden.
But the vaccine was developed under President Donald Trump, I pointed out. "He was under pressure" to get a vaccine quickly to reopen the economy, replied Chris, a Christian conservative and lifelong Texan.
"No."
Will these employer mandates encourage him to get the vaccine?
But unvaccinated people can spread the virus to those unable to get vaccines, like those with weakened immune systems or kids.
"I don't want to see any kids die; I've actually had a child who died. If I believed me taking this vaccine would stop kids from dying, I would take it."
“There is so much information out there, and so much bad information out there,” he said. "We don't know what to believe. We don't know who to trust."
Trust.
But can professional journalists make a difference?
That’s his biggest problem:
We know that trust is earned, so we're giving it everything we have. We work to earn your trust with every story, every day.
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