While I sympathize with the sentiment, I disagree with the details. I don’t think it’s wasted effort to reproduce results. There was a possibility they found a

While I sympathize with the sentiment, I disagree with the details. I don’t think it’s wasted effort to reproduce results. There was a possibility they found a different outcome than what we expect, and then we’d have something new and interesting to learn about. As a made up example, maybe they’d find that autism turns out to be higher among the population groups more likely to have their kids vaccinated or something unexpected like that, and then we could try to figure out what caused that new observation. It’s shocking how often basic science turns up something wholly unexpected and new and weird and interesting. Edit: To be super clear, I don’t buy the antivax line for a second. Nor did I remotely believe there was a link between vaccines and autism. We know there isn’t. But science means sometimes you investigate what you’re pretty sure you know just to be certain.