Anti-Vaxxer Sympathy

[Aractus]

Those are not Anti-Vaxxers. Anti-Vaxxers are people who have access to vaccines and proper medical information but willfully choose not to get vaccines (for themselves and/or their children) because of irrational fears and/or bad ideas. Unlike the minorities you describe, their mistrust is less often caused by cultural norms or lack of options than by willful ignorance and lack of critical thinking skills coupled with incidental exposure to damaging information. Those people should be educated (as politely as possible), the ones that won't be educated should be shamed, and the ones that are beyond shame should should not be allowed to participate in consensual society since they refuse to follow its rules. That's how bad ideas are generally handled. Lots of people get the soft approach and get the picture, and some people aren't so lucky or rational. Such is life.

Firstly, I suggest you read the WHO link that mh.brewer provided as it clearly explains that 'vaccine resistance' is due to failings in healthcare delivery:

"Effective communication is key to dispelling fears, addressing concerns and promoting acceptance of vaccination."

And at no point do they suggest blaming the patients!! FURTHERMORE:


"But the authors note there is no “magic bullet,” or single intervention strategy that works for all instances of vaccine hesitancy. The magnitude and setting of the problem varies and must be diagnosed for each instance to develop tailored strategies to improve vaccine acceptance."

It is not all about education. It's not a one-method fix. I've explained this many many times.

You might be willing to believe what a teacher at your school tells you about healthcare, for example. Now I wouldn't - because of my own experiences. If a school teacher told me the sky was blue, I would turn around and look out the window to be sure. You could easily call me overly critical since anything you learn in today's schools will be obsolete in a few years anyway - but that's how I feel. So if I was delivered a health message through a school - I would be extremely sceptical, to say the least. I would check that the sky is still blue.

Now I believe I said this before - you need to ensure the person who delivers the message is not just "qualified" but will be accepted by the person who you are delivering the message to.

If you know anything about advertising you know about targeting demographics. You can run a government-run education advertising campaign, but it's almost impossible to target everyone, and even if you did you would do a survey to determine which demographics received your message and which didn't. Even among those who received it the most there will be a proportion who didn't.

Redbeard you have shown a clear lack of critical thinking in this thread. And if I can recognise it easily then so could a so-called "anti-" that you talk to.

To be honest why don't you spend your time on breast cancer screenings instead? There's a far bigger need for improvement there than there is for improvement in vaccination rates.

Finally, by the way, "Their fear and non-knowledge is primarily a matter of cultural limitation." No it isn't. I'd explain it to you but it would go over your head.