Anti-Vaxxer Sympathy

[Aractus]

Again, what does "too strong" mean in context with a vaccine? If you split the vaccine, will that cause a diminished immune response to the inoculation? How do doses of a vaccine antigen get decided? Any idea? What exactly do you think people are afraid of? How do vaccines work, anyway? I am asking you specifically since you are making this argument.

There is a lot of pseudoscience and internet chatter (often complete lies) about MMR and thimerosal and autism. None of that makes the vaccine "too strong" or unsafe. It's not the vaccine. It's the people believing the false statements. People are NOT looking at the data, they are looking at the lies. If they were looking at the data, they would vaccinate their kids.

The issue here is to listen to healthcare consumers. I'm not saying that the MMR vaccine is dangerous - I'm explaining that parents do not like it. Not because of irrational fears, but because of their experiences with it. It's not like other vaccines. The point is that they don't like the product - even people who use it don't like it. I've spoken in recent months to a number of parents who have specifically said that's the vaccine they don't like - but they never avoided it or didn't vaccinate. However healthcare data does show a lower number of vaccinations specifically for MMR compared with other vaccines, and there has to be a specific reason for this.

Here is a graph from data taken in 2003:



As you can clearly see, as I have mentioned repeatedly, those who actually opposed are a tiny minority of people who don't vaccinate. Remember this figure is just for the 15-20% or so of people who (in 2003) missed a vaccination (note that the majority have vaccinated their kids, but missed one or more vaccinations). So when people say "perceived no need" that is for the specific vaccination, and not perceived no need for vaccination itself. The people who are actually opposed may have a loud voice but they don't have a large effect. I've asked repeatedly for information showing me that opposition is a significant factor in the USA, and no one has provided me with any data that suggests it is.

If you want to look at ways of improving vaccination rates you are completely wasting your time focusing on the "Opposed" group who are tiny, tiny minority. By doing to you also make other feel threatened - people who missed a vaccination because they didn't know about it, or didn't realise the need. It's not their fault, and victim-blaming is wrong and toxic.

How it is offered is of vital importance. As I explained earlier, many Indigenous people will never accept healthcare delivery from non-Indigenous people, and there are many other people who would never accept healthcare products in a school or other setting that they do not perceive to be an appropriate place for health care products and services. People need to be given options that address their concerns. There are many atheists who wouldn't want to go to a church to have their child immunised, because they feel threatened by the setting.