Okay, so she believes she makes a case for why she should be able to make the choice to take it herself. But why should others be forced to take it? Why does she care what others do?

You are assuming she is ok with vaccine mandates. She is not. She does believe the vaccines are imperfect but better than nothing. She thinks that people like me are just misinformed because we read misinformation on the internet. She has no interest in looking into any research or science herself, because she believes what she hears from the media. But she does not think anybody should be forced to get the vaccine or lose their job for example.

That said, when peoole start the "it reduces symptoms" nonsense I always remind them that 99+% of us aren't at risk of becoming seriously ill enough to be hospitalized and on a vent to begin with (well over 95% will have not much more than a bad cold, if that) It feels like utter insanity to inject oneself with chemicals and thereby risk other problems for something that is so very unlikely.

Well said, I think exactly the same thing.

My friend is a smart lady. But she doesn't want to believe that the CDC and FDA are not acting earnestly in our best interests.

That's the key.

She doesn't want to be wrong about this. She doesn't want to believe that people are being harmed. Many people here on GA would find this reprehensible but it is human behavior that we have to deal with. Normies don't want to spend effort on learning any of this stuff, because they don't want it to be true.

Making my friend read any articles or research that I provide is like trying to make a cat drink some water when it isn't thirsty.