I feel like a lot of people tend to forget that the antivax movement is the result of ableism and a hatred of autistic people especially autistic children. It’s not based off of a “trend” it’s core reason for being a “thing” is because of ableism, so like…yeah make fun of antivaxers but can we please remember that they are always ableist pieces of garbage that would rather their child die slowly and painfully from a preventable disease than live and be autistic.
not to ruffle any feathers, but this is how and why pro-vaxxers are just creating more anti-vaxxers
the reason this debate is ongoing is because both sides are presenting a false dichotomy. anti-vaxxers: suffer anaphylactic shock or live the healthy life you were born with pro-vaxxers: die from measles encephalitis or live the healthy life you were born with all four of these options are conditional. 1. not all people have negative reactions to vaccines and we can’t predict who will. 2. not all unvaccinated people will dodge polio for the rest of their lives. 3. not all unvaccinated people will contract infectious diseases. 4. not all vaccinated people are immune to the diseases they’re vaccinated against.
anti-vaxxers have existed long before the autism rumor developed and it was not because they were afraid their children would become impaired, it was because they were afraid their children would get hurt because some children have been hurt by vaccines
is it sometimes about ableism? probably! but if you actually talked to any given anti-vaxxer in person and not in the Facebook comments, you might find they are genuinely worried on behalf of their children about the side effects of some vaccines (not all!) and the unpredictability therein but you’d be lucky to find an anti-vaxxer willing to put themselves in that situation because of all the bile pro-vaxxers spew at them daily, telling them they hate and abuse their children
All 👏 of 👏 this 👏
Literally all they want is to not be forced into anything. Do what you want, but don’t you dare suggest medical kidnapping, as so many vaxx worshippers do.
Personally speaking a way bigger concern for the ordinary person is their baby dying after getting one of the huge booster shots with like thirty of them at a time. People are wary wondering why an infant ‘needs’ that many at once, especially for diseases one would think they’re far too young to even risk getting except in ridiculously rare instances—like stds.
I’ve seen some of my followers being extremely flippant and rude about this issue. I hope that stops soon. It really pays to understand your opponent in a debate and “you just hate your kids/are an uneducated hick” isn’t going to get anywhere with terrified parents who have read entire books on the subject.
i personally know two vaccine injured children. i’m not anti vax, but i do have questions. like, are children these days being given more vaccines than when i was a kid? why? how do we know that’s safe? vax is big money, and vax producers are exempt from lawsuits, how do we know they have our best interests at heart? who is keeping an eye on them so they can’t abuse the system? how do we know the watchdogs aren’t corrupted by pharma companies’ money? why were the parents of these two kids pressured so hard into vaxxing earlier than they felt comfortable? neither set of parents was against vaxxing, but both had a gut feeling that they should wait and the doctors pressured them into vaxxing. now both those kids are immunocompromised. one has debilitating asthma, eczema, and GI issues that will be with him the rest of his life. the other got off a little easier, but still has issues. neither of them had these issues before those vaccines (don’t ask me more about them, i’m waiting to see if the parents will give me more details)
seriously, i see so much vitriol from both sides every day, but no actual information is being exchanged
Children are being given more vaccines because more vaccines have been developed, and... that’s a good thing (link)? We know that’s safe the same way we know any other medical intervention is safe: Through clinical trials and research.
Vaccination manufacturers in the U.S. are immune from lawsuits to prevent their ceasing production due to spurious lawsuits that are unsupported by science but might sway a sympathetic jury. That doesn’t mean sufferers of vaccine adverse events are left with no recourse: Many countries, including the U.S., run government compensation programs for serious vaccine injuries, which are rare. I hope the parents of those two children you know have taken their case to the compensation board with jurisdiction.
And you’re conflating sales with profits when you say vaccines are big money. Vaccines have historically been unprofitable, and while the market has grown with higher-priced vaccines they remain costly to produce, are highly regulated (as they should be!), and often account for just a fraction of companies’ sales (link). I researched flu vaccine production for work and seasonal flu vaccines are basically not worth it for pharmaceutical companies, and they would not make these vaccines if it weren’t for national laboratories and the WHO taking on a lot of the research costs.
Obviously, neither government nor for-profit companies deserve anyone’s unthinking trust. That’s why there are processes to keep government accountable. The CDC in the U.S. is responsive to public concerns over vaccines, even stupid and unfounded ones like thimerosal preservatives (link).
In the real world there is no such thing as being risk-free; life is about controlling risk. Vaccination, evidence-based research, and regulation of vaccination are all far better means to lessen and control the risk of disease than vague and unfounded fearmongering about how government and corporations can never ever be trusted. We have to MAKE them work for us, and to give up on the work of civil engagement and self-education is nothing but cowardly cynicism.
Furthermore, to reply to some of the comments upthread that you have seen fit to uncritically reblog, “to each their own” is a fucking ridiculous and disingenuous statement when you’re talking about communicable diseases. I’m willing to accept that from someone who doesn’t put their kids in school and lives 100 miles from any population center, but if you’re going to increase the risk of my kid--or more seriously, very young children and immunocompromised people who can’t get vaccinated--getting a lethal disease with your vapid conspiracy theories then you are a fucking irresponsible menace who doesn’t deserve the benefits of human society.
I can’t believe I’m even addressing some of these but nobody’s immunizing infants against STDs lmao, HPV immunization starts at 11 or 12 years of age (link). There are also no 30-vaccine combination shots, though I sometimes wished for one when we were going back and forth giving my kid his shots. There’s MMR for measles, mumps, and rubella and DTaP for Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis. Why do booster shots even come into a discussion that is allegedly about combination vaccines? Does that person even know what booster shots are, or did they just think it sounded scary?
So before you “both sides” this, I hope you’ll think about which side in this debate has spread flippant, spurious lies and made misleading statements, and which has responded with actual facts. Think about what you’re doing by uncritically spreading some of these statements. Saying things online, much like vaccination, entails personal responsibility.
