“It is based on the science. . . . We are following the science”These statements have been used by many sides of the vaccine and COVID-19 pandemic debate. Governments have used the assertions, anti-vaxxers, information programmes, as well as disinformation campaigns.This state of affairs has served only to confuse citizens to the point where a sizeable portion of our population does not know whom they should trust, which information is credible, and what ought to be rejected out of hand.Just as Trinidadian kaiso master Dr Hollis Liverpool a.k.a. Mighty Chalkdust sang Too Much Quacks And Invalids, in our case it is not the “kaiso boat” that is overcrowded, but the field of quasi medical professionals.One cannot hide from the peddlers on YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, and various websites touting all sorts of advice on COVID-19, vaccines, Vitamin D, Zinc, and all manner of prescriptions.Everyone is an expert, and all contenders are claiming to be “following the science”.What is the ordinary citizen to do in such circumstances? The level of information overload is doing nothing but adding to the stress of our daily lives. COVID-19 fatigue is probably a psychiatric syndrome now worthy of its own field of study.
