Dr R, my paediatrician in Tel-Aviv, was a friendly man and was deemed to be competent by my parents. They did, however, not consider Dr R to be very intelligent and I would occasionally hear them making jokes to that effect. I was thus inoculated at a very young age against the notion that the physician’s white coat should bestow automatic admiration.
Last week a not so young friend of mine told me that his much-admired surgeon, with whom he had had a general conversation, had in no uncertain terms told him not to get the Covid vaccination, until more research about possible risks has been published. He himself, he added, has not been vaccinated.
Does a surgeon have better understanding of vaccines than someone who has not studied medicine? Is he more capable of analysing the impact, efficacy, and risk information? Not really. He might be a great surgeon, however, had he also been intelligent, he would refrain from such irresponsible advice.
No doctor's dilemma here.
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