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Opinion

Cole Beasley and other vaccine doubters are misleading this country at the worst possible time

Former Cowboys player’s public statements on the matter are a study in the way people without the facts undermine the facts.

We know a couple of things about Cole Beasley, the former Dallas Cowboy turned Buffalo Bill. One, he’s terrific at making catches over the middle in tough situations. Two, he is not a doctor or scientist.

When it comes to who we get our information from, we should always consider the source. And the best sources of information — the doctors, scientists and institutions we trust with our public health every day — have made it clear that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective at preventing the disease.

We aren’t trying to pick on Beasley. The former Little Elm star is by all accounts a decent and well-meaning person who cares about his teammates and the communities where he plays. But he has emerged as a public voice needlessly sowing doubt in the safety of vaccination at a time when America desperately needs its public figures to speak up for vaccinations that can, have and will save lives.

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Beasley’s public statements on the matter are a study in the way people without the facts undermine the facts. He claimed he isn’t anti-vaccination or pro-vaccination, that he’s simply pro-choice, just a guy asking questions.

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He said he is speaking up because too little is known about the vaccines’ safety and that information about the vaccines has been “withheld from players in order for a player to be swayed.”

We hear or see this sort of cryptic language a lot, often online, suggesting without evidence a conspiracy around vaccination.

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In fact, the safety of the vaccines has been exhaustively studied. Information about their side effects and about exceedingly rare cases of medical complications are readily available on the websites of respected medical resources, including the Centers for Disease Control and Johns Hopkins Medical School, among others. Hundreds of millions of people have been safely vaccinated around the world, saving untold lives and permitting us to begin to return to normal life.

We know beyond doubt now that the current COVID-19 crisis is almost exclusively a result of the failure of people to get vaccinated. Greater than 97% of hospitalizations are among the unvaccinated, according to recent figures.

The cost of all of this vaccine doubt is in actual lives. It will also come at the expense of the economy reopening. It could mean people losing their jobs, and kids not getting back to school where they desperately need to be.

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Yes, everyone has a right to their opinion. But they don’t have a right to their own facts.

Public figures who are making it harder to get this country vaccinated aren’t bold individualists making personal choices. They are misguided and ill-informed people whom history is likely to judge poorly for leading us in the wrong direction. And they need to stop.