this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2023
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It might be controversial, but I think people have legitimate reasons to not trust public health authorities. They have had to fess up in the past after years of misleading people about a number of things, from tobacco, sugar, alcohol, cannabis, … The Spanish flu is only called “Spanish” because Spain was the only country willing to acknowledge it during war time. It didn’t help also that more recently, the White House admitted to lying about the lack of need of face masks at the very beginning of the COVID pandemic, because they didn’t want people to take them away from hospital workers who needed them.
So with that, I understand why people will want to be selective about what public health guidelines they’ll choose to trust and not trus.
Add to that, that getting a vaccine shot is unpleasant. And consoling your baby after they got vaccinated is even more unpleasant. From there, you can understand the mental shortcut that some people make, choosing to ignore the proven impressive track record of vaccines to limit or even eradicate contagion of some diseases, and all of a sudden, all vaccines are a lie.
Not only that, but this whole thing has become a hot-button issue, and any time that happens, all logic and scientific facts are the first thing to go.
For example, there are people that are allergic to certain vaccines. That is a fact. They are a small amount of the population, but they do exist, and they will die or get really sick if they get whatever vaccine.
Try telling that to someone who blindly follows the media's crushing message of "All vaccines are good. Anyone who doesn't get a vaccine is a stupid, poor redneck" They will not be able to hear it. They will think you're anti-vaxx.