Merriam-Webster chooses 'vaccine' as its 2021 word of the year
ABC News
"Vaccine" was Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year 2021, with runners-up including "insurrection" and "infrastructure."
Merriam-Webster announced on Monday that "vaccine" was its word of the year for 2021.
"The biggest science event of the year quickly became the biggest political debate in our country, and the word at the center of both stories is vaccine," Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large, said in a press release. "Few words can express so much about one moment in time."
The selection, which is based on search volume, comes as more than 196 million Americans are fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. The dictionary publishing company said in a press release Monday that even though the choice may be seen as "obvious," data from its website's search history paints a more complicated picture.
“Vaccine lookups increased 600%, and the story is about much more than medicine,” Sokolowski said in the press release. “It was at the center of debates about personal choice, political affiliation, professional regulations, school safety, healthcare inequity, and so much more."
