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Was watching an older episode of the Nightly Show the other day and they were talking about anti vaxxers. Had a woman there from the Thinking Moms Revolution [1

Was watching an older episode of the Nightly Show the other day and they were talking about anti vaxxers. Had a woman there from the Thinking Moms Revolution [1]. Larry asked her if someone came out with a vaccine against autism would she give that to her kids. She said she would not because she wouldn't trust it. So the problem is not autism but trust. Another great insight from that show: this is about guilt and control. Something bad happens to your child => you feel guilty. You have the urge to do something about it, and while you cannot control lots of things, you can decide whether to vaccinate. This is similar to how people get eating disorders: food is often times the only thing they can control in their lives. This was interesting to me because I cannot fathom how you can stare facts in the face and stubbornly disagree, putting your own child at a huge risk. This in no way excuses it, but it does highlight how someone goes from "I want my child to be well" to "I will not vaccinate". [1] http://thinkingmomsrevolution.com/ http://thinkingmomsrevolution.com/

wcbeard10 12y ago
The 'guilt and control' phenomenon also looks like it shows up in deciding whether to leave your children at home during a quick trip out. While a road accident may be much more likely than an accident alone at home, good luck explaining that to either the parents or the law. The desire to feel in control frequently seems to be very hard to reason against.
- IgorPartola 12y ago
  Are you saying you leave your kids home alone while going out because you are afraid of car accidents?
MollyR 12y ago
I know this is a little dark, but perhaps trust and desperation are related for humans. If everyone saw tons of kids dropping dead from measles, they would feel a type of desperation to save their kid, and the amount of "trust" needed for them to get their kid vaccinated drops.
nasmorn 12y ago
I think knowing this it is stupid to encourage the vaccination of children under 2. Under one year olds have half of deaths and a big enough share of life threatening issues for all children under 15. Now every time they get a shot and then die/have a real issue, the mechanic of guilt and control will make parents want to find a culprit. Given that most of the life saving of vaccination doesn't come from individual but rather mass immunization it is probably not the greatest strategy nowadays to fixate so much on the immunization of babies as a strategy. Society should rather aim at getting more people immunized long term. I for one find it utterly perplexing that in Austria where I live there is no immunization strategy except immunizing babies. Grown ups have to pay for their own shots, cannot get blood levels done easily there is no information except for tick vaccination because it is paid by pharma marketing dollars. Getting vaccinated in a society with good vaccination rate is like a blood donation. There is almost zero individual benefit. Society should recognize it and make it painfully easy and beneficial to do so. I am pro vaccination but I hate how it is turned into a moral question rather then a simple numbers game it is. And yes I realize the game involves people dying but so does every single transportation decision or policy. This is no different

wcbeard10 12y ago

The 'guilt and control' phenomenon also looks like it shows up in deciding whether to leave your children at home during a quick trip out. While a road accident may be much more likely than an accident alone at home, good luck explaining that to either the parents or the law. The desire to feel in control frequently seems to be very hard to reason against.

IgorPartola 12y ago
Are you saying you leave your kids home alone while going out because you are afraid of car accidents?

MollyR 12y ago

I know this is a little dark, but perhaps trust and desperation are related for humans. If everyone saw tons of kids dropping dead from measles, they would feel a type of desperation to save their kid, and the amount of "trust" needed for them to get their kid vaccinated drops.

nasmorn 12y ago

I think knowing this it is stupid to encourage the vaccination of children under 2. Under one year olds have half of deaths and a big enough share of life threatening issues for all children under 15. Now every time they get a shot and then die/have a real issue, the mechanic of guilt and control will make parents want to find a culprit. Given that most of the life saving of vaccination doesn't come from individual but rather mass immunization it is probably not the greatest strategy nowadays to fixate so much on the immunization of babies as a strategy. Society should rather aim at getting more people immunized long term. I for one find it utterly perplexing that in Austria where I live there is no immunization strategy except immunizing babies. Grown ups have to pay for their own shots, cannot get blood levels done easily there is no information except for tick vaccination because it is paid by pharma marketing dollars. Getting vaccinated in a society with good vaccination rate is like a blood donation. There is almost zero individual benefit. Society should recognize it and make it painfully easy and beneficial to do so. I am pro vaccination but I hate how it is turned into a moral question rather then a simple numbers game it is. And yes I realize the game involves people dying but so does every single transportation decision or policy. This is no different