"So, you've been eatin' hot dogs and chicken nuggets all your life and you don't want the vaccine 'cuz you don't know what's in it??" asks a befuddled chicken in a meme.
Actually, plenty of information is out there about "what's in it."
Upon entering a vaccination center, you're handed a multi-page fact sheet that, among many other things, lists the chemicals about to be plunged into your arm.
The first two COVID vaccines are roughly the same recipe, adjusted for proportions and tiny details: mRNA, 4 fats (including cholesterol), a pinch of sugar, and a few salts. No eggs, preservatives, ricin, or leechee nut extract. (See The First COVID-19 Vaccines: What's mRNA Got to do With it?) Ingredient lists for hot dogs and chicken nuggets are far longer and complex.
Yet the comparative transparency of vaccine ingredient lists isn't enough to dispel the fear of something new and unfamiliar being jabbed into your body. For many people that fear arises against a backdrop of the history of dishonesty in medicine that has misled and mistreated marginalized groups, as well as the record of unethical clinical trials for some vaccines, notably influenza.
To continue reading go to my DNA Science blog at Public Library of Science, where this post first appeared.