this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2024
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The animator then asked Maher what the “downside” of “getting a vaccine” was, which caused the comedian to go on an anti-vax tirade.

“The fact that you the fact that you don’t even have a clue what’s the cost of getting a vaccine that you don’t know the answer to that. You completely want to shut your eyes to the fact that there are repercussions to all medical interventions, including a vaccine, all vaccines,” he ranted. “They come, they say side effects, just like every medication does. You can see it in the literature. They can’t write it on their back on the vaccine. So you have to dig them. And of course, there is a vaccine court because so many people have been injured.”

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[–] [email protected] 120 points 10 months ago (6 children)

The way I see it is this: sure there are millions of reasons to hate drug companies. To be distrustful of them. But if my doctors say that something is the best course of action, of course I will do that. My doctor said that Covid vaccines are abundantly safe, as are flu vaccines. My doctor is great. I have great trust in her opinion. Therefore, I will get my Covid and flu vaccines as often as I need to.

I don't know fuck all about the way these things work. But I do know I trust my doctor because she has been through all the education and has a decade plus of being a family health doctor. I trust her. And I think people should be more inclined to trust their doctors rather than random weirdos on the internet.

[–] [email protected] 62 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I don't know fuck all about the way these things work. But I do know I trust my doctor because she has been through all the education and has a decade plus of being a family health doctor.

Tbh this is the same reasoning that medical providers utilize for their own healthcare. I specialize in orthopedics and rehabilitation......

Yes I know more than the average Joe, but med school was a long time ago, and you aren't really proficient in a field you aren't actively practicing.

When I want to know if a vaccine is safe and medically necessary I look to my esteemed colleagues from the department of infectious disease. I don't really see how anyone with an MD behind their name can really attempt to fool themselves that they know more about a disease and how to treat it than the entirety of specialized departments.

If my buddies from infectious disease are taking a vaccine, I'm not going to second guess it. To me, it's the equivalent of seeing a bomb tech sprinting away from a ied, and then deciding that there's no rush because you've never seen a bomb go off before.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I absolutely agree, and yet for years we've been seeing unmasked infectious disease experts at infectious disease conferences that (surprise surprise!) become super-spreader events.

It would be funny if it weren't so distopian.

(FWIW, I think most conferences for aerosol scientists have remained remote or respirator required)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

In their defense humans practically run off of cognitive dissonance, just cause ya know something on paper often doesnt mean ya know it in practice. On paper I know how to make an IED, but if im being honest id probably blow myself up if I tried.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 10 months ago (2 children)

But what about Dr. Chiropractor on Facebook that says that vaccines actually change your DNA?: "Through the RNA transcriptase of the aortic Golgi bodies?". He's a doctor. Those are big words. Plus, it involves me being victimized by a shadowy organization. It must be true!

[–] [email protected] 42 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Chiropractors are not doctors. They're scam artists.

Cracking your back might make you relax your muscles and as a result feel less pain for a short time but medically, it's of no more benefit than taking a hot bath.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

My wife's cousin was married to a woman (and he still brings her to family functions for some reason) who worked for her chiropractor father. She always calls him a doctor and it annoys the fuck out of me.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Well, you can get a doctorate in anything and still be referred to as doctor.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago

"This man is having a seizure! Is there a doctor on board?!"

"I'm a doctor of anthropology."

"Good. You'll be helpful after he's dead and buried."

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Sure. My dad had a doctorate. He was a professor. Some students even called him Dr. [My last name]. But he would never have called himself a doctor. That's different.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Paging Dr. Jacuzzi

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

How the fuck do we still have quacks that are allowed to be called Dr. in this day and age? The Catholic fucking church is advocating for acceptance of gay marriage, is funding science, and is making other rational decisions, and our politicians and bureaucrats are like, "Well, let's preserve bone ~~pooping~~ popping and expensive water in our medical system!"

Edit: a word

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

The Catholic Church has always supported education, science, and the arts. They didn't like Galileo because of the Inquisition (it was nuts), not because of any actual reasons. After that died down the celebrated him as a hero.

bone pooping and expensive water in our medical system!

Dafuq?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago

Chiropractic (bone popping) and Homeopathy are my guesses

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

I think he meant popping, then again given some of these folks into quakery its entirely possible at least one of them has shit out a bit of bone. They drink bleach for fucks sake.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

How the fuck do we still have quacks that are allowed to be called Dr. in this day and age?

Well the answer to that is rather multifaceted, but a few significant patterns seem to emerge:

  • Ambiguous use of "Doctor" as an academic title in general and "Doctor" for the title "Medicinae Doctor" specifically. This just confuses a lot of people.
  • "Paper mill" universities, selling "degrees" for money basically.
  • Adjacent to that, recognition of foreign degrees. It is worth noting here that this is largely a legitimate process which is just occasionally abused, specifically by paper mills.
  • Semi-adjacent to that, variance in title laws by jurisdiction. What education is allowing whom to bear which protected title under which circumstances is very different from country to country.
  • Regulatory capture, aka "I will create my own degree, with Blackjack and Hookers". Several branches of medicine considered by many to be pseudo-scientific have managed to get themselves actual academic degrees recognised in several jurisdictions. For example the "Doctor of Chiropractic", or D.C. for short, is a recognised and protected academic title in many countries.

Is there a solution to all this? Not really. I guess educating the general public on the significance of academic titles could help, better global alignment in title laws as well. Preventing pseudo-sciences, or whatever someone considers as such, from establishing their own branches of science and academic titles seem highly dangerous though. Just think what this would imply for gender studies in the current political climate for example. Pseudo-science is just the price science has to pay for freedom of research, and when it bore theology being a branch since its inception than it will survive the D.C. as well.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I agree, we should probably trust the doctors more than the crazies on Facebook or wherever they get their nonsense. But I think it's also dangerous to place blind faith in doctors, who themselves are susceptible to misinformation and advertising. Oxycontin adverts appeared in NEJM, doctors went "wow I should prescribe that", and that didn't go well.

I think trusting Science is most important. Read peer reviewed articles and read them critically.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I feel like people gloss over clinical trials and how difficult it is to get from Drug Company has a drug to doctor prescribes it. Nothing is full proof, but the Process is quite involved, even the emergency use provision that was used during Covid.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

You're right, and an upvote for you. I've seen colleagues who encounter a 90% drop in efficacy when making the leap to Phase 1 trials (and this is excluding safety concerns!).

It is rigorous and thank everything the Process is put in place. But I specifically used Oxycontin as an example for a pertinent reason. Rigour isn't applied to everyone equally, and I think that itself underscores a need to think critically.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

What?! You mean you actually trust the professional in their profession to be professional? The nerve! Do you actually trust pilots and believe they even know how to fly a plane?!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

I used to think people who were skeptical of global warming would at least listen to the expert when it came to their health, but no. They'd let a politician operate on them out of belief.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Some of the issue in the US at least IMO is how the system turns patients into customers. People do have negative experiences with doctors for valid and invalid reasons, and if they can just pay for a "doctor" who does some BS pseudoscience, they see those credentials and they are getting much more "compassionate" care, they might even feel legitimately better after an experience like that. Doctors I think can become desensitized to patients sometimes or they just aren't good at social skills. Like you have a potentially life threatening tumor removed and ask your doctor why you got it, and they just say "meh you're just unlucky," which is absolutely true, but it's not at all sensitive to the patient's experience to be that blunt. Go in to the happy naturopath office and it's much different, "oh well lets look at your diet to assess your toxicity profile, we can come up with a plan and some steps etc etc." I totally see why people go for that.

I try not to blame people for their choices within this system because despite all the pseudoscience bs that they're paying for there's often perfectly rational reasons behind it, and I fully accept the placebo effect as legitimate. The placebo effect isn't just a trick that works on dumb people it's a very real physiological thing. If people are primed by an incredibly compassionate doctor who practices naturopathy or homeopathy, and despite the financial incentive they have maybe actually cares about the patients, they will actually feel better and it will actually benefit them. That's a huge complication for treating everyone who does this as simply stupid and misinformed, which they may be but that alone wouldn't explain a lot of this.

So blaming stupid patients I don't think helps and I believe the solution to healthcare and the mental health crisis (popular term for it) is ultimately political.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I would like to trust doctors more, however they often offer stuff like homeopathic treatments or over prescribe medications, where I am wondering if they are just payed to do so by the pharma industry.

IMO the financial incentives of doctors sort of run counter with offering the best treatment of patients, which then in turn destroys the trust in them.

Again capitalism ruins everything.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Doctors being paid to push a particular medication seems to be a mostly American issue and should be legislated against.

In most countries it's illegal for drug companies to incentivise doctors to push a particular medication. Same as how in my country it's illegal to advertise a prescription medication.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

where I am wondering if they are just payed to do so by the pharma industry.

I believe the medical insurance companies, and what treatments they will approve/pay for, has a big factor in this.