One more hurdle

The trucks are rolling, and the first doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine are being administered. Science has overcome a formidable hurdle. Now another looms: overcoming suspicion, mistrust and bad information so people will accept the vaccine.

The Food and Drug Administration has given emergency use authorization to Pfizer, and is expected shortly to give the same to Moderna for hundreds of millions of vaccine doses. The timeline was faster than any vaccine in history, spurred by the even-faster devastation of the pandemic. The rush — and the unfortunate moniker “Operation Warp Speed” — are not reasons to shun the vaccine. The FDA scrutinized the sizable clinical trials that demonstrated safety and efficacy for the Pfizer shot.

President Donald Trump, who deserves credit for launching the accelerated manufacturing and distribution effort, did little to build confidence on Friday with a ham-handed threat to fire the FDA commissioner, Stephen Hahn, on the eve of the FDA decision — and Trump’s pointless name-calling on Twitter, saying the FDA was “a big, old, slow turtle.” Since the early days of the pandemic, Trump has been a poster boy for how not to communicate in a public health emergency. By contrast, he did the right thing Sunday in ordering White House staff not to grab priority access to vaccines when there are so many needy recipients waiting.

Health-care workers, who have been heroes on the front lines since day one, will be the first offered the shots, and they can do much to enhance public confidence with a rapid and welcoming uptake. Scientists must also take pains to explain that the genetic content of the first two vaccines is a biomedical marvel, but it cannot damage the human genome. The use of genetic material may reassure some (since no version of the virus is being injected) but also could be exploited to frighten people.

If opinion surveys are right, public doubts are easing somewhat. But countering an onslaught of false and misleading information will still be a major undertaking. The best way to do so is with transparency and forthrightness.