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This was the case for our grandparents generation as well. When they grew up, kids commonly died of childhood diseases, so when they had kids and vaccines becam

This was the case for our grandparents generation as well. When they grew up, kids commonly died of childhood diseases, so when they had kids and vaccines became available, they fucking rushed to have their kids vaccinated, because they had seen the bad effects of the diseases. I was born in the 1970's, and noone from my generation or younger in the west has really seen the bad effects, noone we knew died of measles or got paralyzed by polio, so we have no fear of the diseases. And that's why the fears of the anti-vax movement are so strong, there's no counter-balance to them. Everything is a risk, having a vaccine is risky, but if people value the risk of the diseases as 0, of course some people are going to object to the vaccines, because they think it's the bigger risk.

jostmey 8y ago
> "having a vaccine is risky" That risk is for all practical purposes, zero
- henrikschroder 8y ago
  Yes, but it's not actually zero, even if you remove all the false vaccine side-effects like autism and mercury poisoning. And that's where the irrational fear of vaccines attach itself. But the actual non-zero risk of death or other horrible side-effects from the diseases, they have nowhere to attach to. We don't get regular stories in the media of kids dying of measles, because we almost eradicated it. So given this, some parents weigh one risk incorrectly way higher than 0, and the other risk incorrectly at 0, and then they make the rational decision not to vaccinate their kid. And I think it's important to understand that anti-vax parents actually don't make irrational choices, they make rational choices, but they're made on the grounds of an incorrect and horribly wrong risk analysis. Hopefully, news stories like this increase the general awareness that measles is a terrible disease, which then can change the risk analysis that people are doing. It just sucks that a bunch of kids have to suffer needlessly because of stupid fearmongering.
- masonic 8y ago
  There are outliers. My 6th grade best friend's sister died from the "Swine Flu" vaccine in the 70s. That said, a good parent plays the percentages.

jostmey 8y ago

> "having a vaccine is risky" That risk is for all practical purposes, zero

henrikschroder 8y ago
Yes, but it's not actually zero, even if you remove all the false vaccine side-effects like autism and mercury poisoning. And that's where the irrational fear of vaccines attach itself. But the actual non-zero risk of death or other horrible side-effects from the diseases, they have nowhere to attach to. We don't get regular stories in the media of kids dying of measles, because we almost eradicated it. So given this, some parents weigh one risk incorrectly way higher than 0, and the other risk incorrectly at 0, and then they make the rational decision not to vaccinate their kid. And I think it's important to understand that anti-vax parents actually don't make irrational choices, they make rational choices, but they're made on the grounds of an incorrect and horribly wrong risk analysis. Hopefully, news stories like this increase the general awareness that measles is a terrible disease, which then can change the risk analysis that people are doing. It just sucks that a bunch of kids have to suffer needlessly because of stupid fearmongering.
masonic 8y ago
There are outliers. My 6th grade best friend's sister died from the "Swine Flu" vaccine in the 70s. That said, a good parent plays the percentages.