It goes beyond "radicalizing" potential anti-vaxxers IMO, because at this point it's become like its own religion, where every vaccine must be equally good and questioning a vaccine is somehow outrageous.
US agencies are the ones recommending a halt. US refused to approve AZ, and Europe halted it, in many countries imposing additional restrictions when resumed. Doctors specializing in the field agree these are legitimate concerns.
If people want to argue cost/benefit tradeoffs, or speculate on things we aren't sure about yet that's totally cool, as long as they are upfront about it. And I understand if someone still wants to get J&J and is upset or just generally disagrees with the total/forceful pause.
But I don't understand treating anyone that has a concern about J&J like a brainwashed neanderthal, when literally the actual medical community has reservations about this particular vaccine. As a young woman I would not get J&J right now. Luckily I was able to get Pfizer instead.
Anyway, I agree there is a problem more generally with scientific education that can push "moderately misinformed" people into much deeper rabbit holes instead of working to educate them. I guess my point is just that I think this is a good example of how people have gotten so entrenched in the issue that it has reached a new level. There will be cases when the science is legitimately unclear, but the popular sentiment will all of a suddenly decide "science says X" and then the internet runs with it.
Another example - there was an ~2 week period last March where I had multiple educated/"science supporting" friends talk down to anyone considering a mask. No it was not coming from a hoarding perspective and it had 0 sense of uncertainty about it. These were strongly worded statements about how "masks don't do anything for COVID, the science is pretty clear".
