A top US vaccine researcher says he doesn't 'blame' unvaccinated people for their skepticism: 'I can see where it can be extremely confusing'

• Journalist David McSwane investigated fraudulent activity committed during the pandemic in his new book, Pandemic Inc.
• The book features interviews with Dr. Rick Bright, the former director of BARDA who sparred with Trump about unproven COVID-19 treatments.

Immunologist Rick Bright has been singularly focused on pandemics his entire career. How to prevent pandemics. How to prepare for pandemics. How to live through pandemics. And, of course, how to vaccinate against pandemics.

Bright directed the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority until he blew the whistle on the US government's overzealous endorsement of unproven COVID-19 treatments (including hydroxychloroquine) in 2020.

Inaccurate information circulating about the virus at that time, he said, was "dangerous, reckless, and causing lives to be lost" — and one of those lives would be his own mother's.

In a new book detailing how people rushed to profit off the COVID-19 outbreak, "Pandemic Inc.," author and investigative journalist David McSwane maps out the lacking national preparedness that laid the foundation for such corruption to take place. To illustrate the point on a more personal level, he also shares the heartbreaking story of how Bright's mother died after exposure to an unvaccinated relative who was sick with COVID-19 in the summer of 2021.

"I think it's ultimately a story about America," McSwane said of his new book. "We didn't behave very well. And I wish we had behaved a little better, and cared about each other a little bit more. We would've fared better. And we'd have more of our family members around."

After his mother died, Bright told McSwane: "I don't blame the unvaccinated people because they've gotten so much misinformation, and I can see where it can be extremely confusing on what is the right thing to do."

Politics, unclear guidance, and bad actors all bred confusion and skepticism, Bright said.

For McSwane, a journalist who'd been covering pandemic profiteers and fraudsters for two years, Bright's unyielding compassion for his unvaccinated family members was a much-needed beacon of hope amidst so many pandemic failures.

"That is the character that we need in this country," McSwane told Insider. "We need an attitude that remembers that it's OK to be wrong sometimes. It's OK to change your mind. It's okay to disagree. But at the very least, you need to have a little bit of empathy."

There are many reasons for vaccine hesitancy in the US — mistrust is a driving factor behind several of them

According to surveys by Pew Research Center and the Kaiser Family Foundation, some unvaccinated Americans skipped shots because they worried that the vaccines require insurance (they don't, though some pharmacists do ask for insurance cards). Others had concerns about whether the vaccines were really safe and well-tested, or pondered whether there might be long term vaccine side effects that would only appear years in the future (that's never happened before with any vaccine.)

Over time, some of those concerns have waned. According to polling, many people who were wary of COVID-19 vaccines last summer have since been vaccinated. Today, nearly 89% of adults in the US have had at least one shot. Those who still haven't gotten shots tend to be younger and, more often than not, they lean Republican.

Even after his mom's death, Bright held fast to hope and understanding for their outlook.

"His entire idealism should be torched," McSwane said. "Yet he holds onto that flicker of the flame in his soul and tells me, 'you know, I'm not mad at them. I understand why they feel this way. We were confusing — the government was confusing — and we didn't handle this correctly.'"