Fuck you, anti-vaxxers

[Yonadav]

Ehhh, there are plenty of left hippy new agers that don't vaccinate as well.  It's not really a super partisan issue.  The lefty healing crystal chakra-aligning granola-munching west coast is just as anti-science as parts of the right.

Arguably the new age granola munching hippies are the ones who made alternative facts and science denial so popular. There was a great article written about this in The Atlantic called How America Lost its Mind. It's a long but very interesting read.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...nd/534231/

[Figbash]

Oh, I agree. There are definitely people throughout the spectrum who don't vaccinate.
And I think social media - Facebook and blogs - have played a large part in disseminating pseudo science.

[bennyboy]

There's a common link: individuals who, despite knowing fuck all about anything, are so confident in their world views that they won't listen to the experts.

Yup, plus the ease with which they can find "data" to confirm their beliefs all over the internet.

The problem is that there are so many idiots that if you take opinions as evidence, then the evidence is always in favor of idiocy.

[brewer]

Read if you want: https://www.boredpanda.com/anti-vaxxer-a...gn=organic

[Pat Mustard]

Is your child unvaccinated?

If the vaccination rate is too low, then even with vaccination Mini Benny could still catch them.

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Yes mine are. Aside from Dutch reformists and Jewish and Islamic dietary concerns I’m having a difficult time actually finding out what the actual objections to vaccinations are. Any antivaxers care to illuminate me?

Even the religious objections are bullshit.

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Some people got into their heads, that vaccines cause autism, among other things. It's mostly conspiracy theory nonsense, but it's been gaining momentum among the general public, largely because of one fraudulent medical study from 20 years ago and support of dim-witted and/or misinformed celebrities.

It's mostly completely conspiracy theory nonsense.  The Wakefield study has been so discredited that it's an indictment against the Lancet that they even allowed it to be published at all.  The extent to which Wakefield fabricated results and interfered with his patients is breathtahking, and not to mention the fact that the reason he wanted to prove the link between the MMR vaccine and autism was... because he was developing a competitor for the MMR vaccine of his own.

I wrote my thesis on the history of anti-vaccination movements, and while they certainly didn't start with Wakefield, his brand of bullshit is the first to enjoy the broad reach of the internet and mass media to millions of ignorant parents...who themselves are vaccinated.

I try as best I can to not judge people right off the bat for their stances, but in this specific case I agree with the OP.  Fuck anti-vaxxers.  They aren't just putting their own child at risk for easily preventable diseases that haven't been an issue in decades thanks to vaccines, they putting everyone else's children at risk as well.

It's worse than him developing a competing vaccine, he was retained by an ambulance chasing solicitor to fabricate "evidence" of a link (both Wakefield and the solicitor knew there was no actual evidence).

[Yonadav]

Here's an interesting article about the values that are motivating anti-vaxxers and how the problem might be dealt with by speaking in terms of their values.

https://www.vox.com/2017/12/5/16733744/v...s-anti-vax

[bennyboy]

I'm personally in favor of a few punches to the face.

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Is your child unvaccinated?

Vaccines are not guaranteed to work, especially with repeated exposure, for individuals.  It's when the whole population is vaccinated that things like measles can be completely eliminated-- the numbers just work too hard against transmission. Also, there are some kids who CAN'T get vaccinated due to immune problems-- and if your kid comes into their space with measles, they're likely dunzo. Like those kids don't have it hard enough-- they have to have fuckwits thinking "Well. . . almost everyone is vaccinated, so my extra-special children don't need to go through that. Also. . . a lot of people think the Earth is flat, so probably vaccines cause autism."

And to answer your question-- of COURSE my children are vaccinated. I care about their health, and I care about my responsibilities to my community. I have an internet connection, and it was very easy to determine that vaccines don't cause autism, and provide massive benefits.

Here's the vaccination we really need: one that prevents brains from being affected by Fox News.

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Read if you want: https://www.boredpanda.com/anti-vaxxer-a...gn=organic

zomg why did you do this to me?

I can't stop peeing my pants!

[outtathereligioncloset]

Kids can't get their first measles shot until they're a year old. Meanwhile irresponsible people CHOOSE not to vaccinate their kids, thus exposing infants to a disease that we have the power to eradicate. Can't very well keep your kid locked inside the house and never go anywhere the first year of life. And especially, you gotta take your own kid to the pediatrician that first year, where the waiting room is gonna be full of sick kids. I think parents who let their kids be unvaccinated should be prosecuted for neglect. And should keep the kids in quarantine, for other people's sake.

https://www.newsweek.com/2019-could-be-w...ce-1309603

Don't even need to read the article----this link title tells the story well enough.

[arewethereyet]

Kids can't get their first measles shot until they're a year old.  Meanwhile irresponsible people CHOOSE not to vaccinate their kids, thus exposing infants to a disease that we have the power to eradicate.  Can't very well keep your kid locked inside the house and never go anywhere the first year of life.  And especially, you gotta take your own kid to the pediatrician that first year, where the waiting room is gonna be full of sick kids.  I think parents who let their kids be unvaccinated should be prosecuted for neglect.  And should keep the kids in quarantine, for other people's sake.

https://www.newsweek.com/2019-could-be-w...ce-1309603

Don't even need to read the article----this link title tells the story well enough.

And then there are the immuno-compromised who cannot be vaccinated.  

The whole anti-vax thing just doesn't seem to me to be the hill I want my kid to die on.  And that's the thing - these parents who are not providing proven protection aren't endangering their own lives...they are just willing to flip a coin when it comes to their kids.  Too bad we can un-vaccinate the anti-vaxers so that they actually have to deal with the risks themselves instead of by proxy.

[Mermaid]