I recently met hundreds of COVID-19 vaccines at the door of Vermont's large public vaccination drive, shepherding each one to meet the nurses who would perform the vaccination.

I screened each for symptoms of active disease, commented on the lovely spring weather, and asked if they had any concerns.

One nattily dressed Black woman in her mid-forties admitted she was nervous as we walked toward her chair.

"I hate needles," she said, visibly shaking. "Are these vaccines safe?"

We paused. I listened. I said I was glad she had come. I reassured her that I believe, as a physician, that COVID-19 vaccination will make her much safer than she was before.

In Europe, recent reports of extremely rare clotting complications of the AstraZeneca vaccine made European vaccine recipients markedly more nervousabout vaccine safety. Many public health authorities worried public safety fears could hurt efforts to vaccinate past a fourth wave of COVID-19 deaths.

I think it’s worth it, though, ,to be transparent. Like vaccines, scientific transparency has real short-term side effects but they are well-worth the mammoth long-term benefits.

To read more, check out my new post about how scientific transparency, like vaccines, has short-term side effects up at MedPage TODAY.

Scientific transparency - like vaccines - has short-term side effects but they are worth the massive long-term benefits