I happened to be looking through the comments on an anti-vaccination thread. In these threads, people never link to any legitimate scientific sources to back up their arguments. It just so happened that one woman attempted to back up her anti-vaccination beliefs by providing a link to an FDA document that she says provides "pretty incriminating evidence AGAINST vaccine safety". Stunned by seeing a link to a credible source, I decided to read this document to see if her claims were justified. Below is the exchange that took place.
I wasn't able to catch a screenshot of the next comment Theresa made, but it went something like "Go look up any of the hundreds of Vaccine Information Sheets on the FDA's site and you will see that vaccines cause death, autism, etc..."
When I checked back later, Theresa had deleted all of her comments and her Facebook account as well.
I have exactly 0 issues with people/parents questioning vaccines. I do have an issue with people not taking the time to seek out good sources of information about their safety. Asking the question "what exactly am I injecting into myself/my child" is the first step. Reading about the dangers of vaccinations on Mercola.com or FoodBabe.com is not the second step you should be taking in your investigation.
For those interested in a quick overview of vaccine herd immunity and the studies done on the link between MMR and autism (spoiler: there isn't one) check out these two YouTube videos by Dr. Aaron Carroll, MD.
All the links mentioned in the post
http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/ucm103006.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTZ8YKgD0MI
http://www.statsdirect.com/help/default.htm#basics/p_values.htm
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/epilepsy/epilepsy.htm#What_is_the_prognosis
http://www.jfk4kids.com/conditions-we-treat/afebrile-seizures-and-epilepsy/
Solid responses, and you kept your responses at a high level of character! Her style of argumentation is pervasive across so many industries. Anytime someone makes a broad statement like "Scientists agree..." or "studies show..." - the BS meter goes off. It takes mental exertion to respond factually and coherently. Writing this comment has made me mentally tired, so I'm going to go watch some crap on TV, and probably believe it. :P
ReplyDeleteYeah I try and kill them with kindness. If you start flame throwing (as fun as that can be) you get nowhere. You might get nowhere by being polite but at least you took the high road.
ReplyDeleteOne interesting thing I noticed was that when I clicked through to view Theresa's Facebook profile, it was relatively new, had almost no pictures, and her only likes were anti-vaccination groups. I'm not entirely sure she was a 'real' person. It makes me doubt she ever had a child too because she never refers to its gender or name.
I hope you're watching Breaking Bad, because thats just about learning chemistry right?