Any sort of compassion I have for those who are nervous about getting injected with medicine they don't understand is overwhelmed by disgust at the lying and magical thinking that surrounds that.
Vaccines are not perfect. They are not guaranteed 100% safe. But they're the best thing we've got for dealing with epidemics.
Absolutely; I suspect it all comes back to cognitive dissonance.
"I am a smart and reasonable person" + "I'm afraid to get injected with a needle" metamorphoses into "clearly, my fear of getting injected is because I am so much smarter than everyone else", leading them to latch onto conspiracy theories as a coping mechanism to make them not only feel in control, but also make them feel like they're smarter than the average bear.
This strikes me as pretty much the reverse of reality.
> Some people just trust their natural immune system. It's the best thing humans have had for dealing with any sort of sickness since the beginning of time.
You don't think modern medicine is an improvement over our natural immune system?
> They've seen the risk and they are willing bet on a natural immune response.
Have they though? They deny it's a big deal at all and that the numbers are inflated.
> It's the pro vaccine people that push the issue and have an agenda.
I had a nice long reply to the parent but their post got flagged before I finished it. But there's no meaningful link between the HPV vaccines and infertility as best as any study could find. Here's the WHO's view [0] (emphasis mine):
> The details of the studies were reported to the Committee, which reviewed the evidence in the 9 articles (case reports, passive surveillance and epidemiological studies) and concluded that, although the safety of HPV vaccine has received considerable media attention, the evidence does not suggest a causal relationship between HPV vaccination and infertility.
It was FUD spread by people opposed to the vaccine because they did not approve of anything which could make sex safer. A large number of studies were performed on the topic as a result and it turned out to not be a thing.
I wasn't aware of that, as I've only ever heard it mentioned in conversation. I'll look into it and bring it up the next time it inevitably comes up in conversation. I'm so exhausted talking about this stuff all the time due to the rehashing, so it will be nice to have something new to add.
For sure. I'm interested in the truth, not in winning an argument. Recent times have resulted in a bombardment of information from an overwhelming number of sources, so I find my standards slipping here and there due to not having the time to verify everything. But that's fine. My theory is that adults learn slower than children in part due to fear of being wrong, and I have no interest in learning slowly. And here we are: I've learned something, and you're feeling refreshed ;). Not a bad outcome.
Vaccines are not perfect. They are not guaranteed 100% safe. But they're the best thing we've got for dealing with epidemics.