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[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (3 children)

One of my favourite cousins has for at least 10 years+ believed that vaccines cause autism, and should be avoided entirely. (And she's also probably not a fan of the COVID vaccine.) Having seen one of her Facebook posts about this, I think 10 years ago, I sent her an email, asking why she belived the opinions about autism. What followed was a long exchange of emails with medical science reports attached. She was able to locate articles by people with medical degrees who claimed that vaccines cause autism. When I let her know that those authors had been discredited by the other studies and by the medical profession in general, she was nonetheless absolutely certain that the handful pf people claiming that vaccines cause autism was much more trustworthy than the research of millions of doctors around the world. She had many reasons not to trust the millions of doctors, as if they were acting on concert, to trick people like her, and billions of others. What I still don't understand is how the anti-vaxxination trend in the US got to this point, how 4 or 5 opinions in bogus medical essays are sufficient evidence, how she and others seemingly understand that baseless 'science', as well as the so-called problems with actual scientific research, and that there is absolutely no middle-ground, there is no opportunity for discussion, there is no forum where she and similar anti-vaxxers can examine and discuss the actual research, that there are now numerous reports from Trump, Fox, and many websites telling people not to trust millions of scientists around the world and instead to trust Trump and Fox &c, and that there has been no corroboration of the facts with what those other anti-vax claims purport, that this unnecessarily divides family, friends and others because there is no grey area for consideration, that scientific fact is turned into opinion by these people, that their opinion is more important than scientific evidence, that the global appreciation of the importance of science in our everyday lives is dismissed for the sake of a pseudo-science opinion, that the anti-vaxxers nonetheless use and depend on the communication, utilities, internet traffic, food, flight, travel, &c that were only possible because of science, but they will not trust the science of a proven medical practice that helps people avoid serious injury or worse, just because a small group of people tell them not to trust the vaccines.

[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 3 fun -  (2 children)

Most of the vaccines work excellently. Flu shot and covid shot don't. It's not right to lump them all together. BUT...

One of my favourite cousins has for at least 10 years+ believed that vaccines cause autism, and should be avoided entirely

We don't know what causes autism, except it was first described in the 40s when vaccinations were first in widespread use.

Did you hear, they're cautioning pregnant women not to take any pain relievers. No Tylenol, no Advil, no aspirin, nothing. Tylenol if they absolutely have to take something.

If your cousin, a couple years ago before we knew this, had said advil can harm unborn babies, you'd have thought her nuts for that too.

[–][deleted] 4 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 3 fun -  (1 child)

I agree it's important to be skeptical about medical research, which is why scientists are updating their work regularly. I am much more skeptical of anything reported on Fox news, even if they were to say water is wet. (I mean, is oxygen wet? Is hydrogen wet?) My response to the Advil research would have been to look for the evidence, because I would not have known initially about it. As for tests of the COVID vaccines, there have now been billions of administered jabs, and the side effects worth noting are something like 1 in a 500 million. For what it's worth, I waited as long as possible before getting my first jab, as well as the second jab. I lump the anti-vax theorists together because they rarely agree that any vaccination is OK. That said, Jesus didn't require a vaccine, nor should we, I suppose. If I get smallpox, then God willed it. I recommend reading Dickens' 'Bleak House'. A real page turner. That's life without a vaccine, for one of the characters.

[–][deleted] 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

Far more advil were taken and we thought it was even safer. Nobody collapses after taking advil.

You're a smart guy Socks, and the writing is on the wall.

Jesus didn't require a vaccine

Has nothing to do with religion.

scientists

Have been doing shoddy work lately. Every big pharma scandal has scientists who are complicit after all.