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I generally support vaccination and there is an argument that public health can sometimes trump individual rights or even health. That said, the example that ha

by YZF 9mo ago

I generally support vaccination and there is an argument that public health can sometimes trump individual rights or even health. That said, the example that has always bugged me though the default of giving babies Hepatitis B vaccine even if there is no possible vector for them to get the disease. The other example is chickenpox where we are trading off a potentially mild disease (everyone I know had it as a child) to the risk of getting it as an adult where it is more severe. These tradeoffs are not straightforward and the health authorities are also not transparent about how they weigh the risks. I've also done something similar with my children. Make a determination for a specific vaccine and schedule. This is a combination of both weighing their health above public health and applying my particular circumstances (e.g. stay at home mom vs. daycare) to adjust the risks. They ended up getting most vaccines, just on a different schedule.

kryogen1c 9mo ago
> the default of giving babies Hepatitis B vaccine even if there is no possible vector for them to get the disease Yeah absolutely. Another example, which is tangential since its not a vaccine but is a default medicine for some reason, is antibiotic eye ointment on literal hours-old infants. Im not concerned we have gonorrhea thanks, ill listen to your talks and sign your waiver. Fwiw, the hep b recommendation just changed like a month ago :) sensibility wins out, sometimes eventually.
atmavatar 9mo ago
> That said, the example that has always bugged me though the default of giving babies Hepatitis B vaccine even if there is no possible vector for them to get the disease. Hepatitis B is spread via bodily fluids, including blood. In this, Hepatitis B is particularly insidious: there is generally a large viral load in the blood relative to other diseases, so even microscopic amounts of blood are sufficient for infection, and the virus can remain active for up to a week on exposed objects. Perhaps your children are different, but blood is a pretty common sight with most children. Worse: when you contract Hepatitis B, it may become a lifelong infection. Sadly, screening those people who have contact with your child is thwarted by the fact that roughly half of those infected don't realize it. See: https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis-b/about/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis-b/about/index.html See: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hepatitis-b https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hepatitis-b See: https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=hepatitis-b-virus-hbv-in-children-90-P02222 https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=hepati... See: https://www.chop.edu/sites/default/files/vaccine-education-center-hepatitis-b.pdf https://www.chop.edu/sites/default/files/vaccine-education-c... See: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/why-hepatitis-b-vaccination-begins-at-birth https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/why-hepatitis-b-vaccinatio...
- YZF 9mo ago
  My daughters were born at home. Me and my wife do not have Hepatitis B. They did not go to daycare, my wife stayed at home with them. I think the burden of proof is on you (or the health authorities) to have some conclusive evidence based story here how them getting this vaccine is a net plus, or at least that not getting the vaccine is a high enough risk in the big picture. What I read online borders propaganda, it is just the natural reflex to defense the existing practices, there is no evidence that I have seen that has real world data comparing the risk that proves what needs to happen here. Because hard evidence is the enemy of bad policy.

by YZF 9mo ago

kryogen1c 9mo ago

> the default of giving babies Hepatitis B vaccine even if there is no possible vector for them to get the disease Yeah absolutely. Another example, which is tangential since its not a vaccine but is a default medicine for some reason, is antibiotic eye ointment on literal hours-old infants. Im not concerned we have gonorrhea thanks, ill listen to your talks and sign your waiver. Fwiw, the hep b recommendation just changed like a month ago :) sensibility wins out, sometimes eventually.

atmavatar 9mo ago

> That said, the example that has always bugged me though the default of giving babies Hepatitis B vaccine even if there is no possible vector for them to get the disease. Hepatitis B is spread via bodily fluids, including blood. In this, Hepatitis B is particularly insidious: there is generally a large viral load in the blood relative to other diseases, so even microscopic amounts of blood are sufficient for infection, and the virus can remain active for up to a week on exposed objects. Perhaps your children are different, but blood is a pretty common sight with most children. Worse: when you contract Hepatitis B, it may become a lifelong infection. Sadly, screening those people who have contact with your child is thwarted by the fact that roughly half of those infected don't realize it. See: https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis-b/about/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis-b/about/index.html See: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hepatitis-b https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hepatitis-b See: https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=hepatitis-b-virus-hbv-in-children-90-P02222 https://www.stanfordchildrens.org/en/topic/default?id=hepati... See: https://www.chop.edu/sites/default/files/vaccine-education-center-hepatitis-b.pdf https://www.chop.edu/sites/default/files/vaccine-education-c... See: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/why-hepatitis-b-vaccination-begins-at-birth https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/why-hepatitis-b-vaccinatio...

YZF 9mo ago
My daughters were born at home. Me and my wife do not have Hepatitis B. They did not go to daycare, my wife stayed at home with them. I think the burden of proof is on you (or the health authorities) to have some conclusive evidence based story here how them getting this vaccine is a net plus, or at least that not getting the vaccine is a high enough risk in the big picture. What I read online borders propaganda, it is just the natural reflex to defense the existing practices, there is no evidence that I have seen that has real world data comparing the risk that proves what needs to happen here. Because hard evidence is the enemy of bad policy.