I wonder if it’s that most of us alive today have very little memory of people who suffered the diseases themselves. Our parents and grandparents knew people who died or had long-term negative effects from measles, polio, smalllpox, etc.
We are insulated from that to the point where some flirt with the idea that maybe the disease isn’t that bad. Combine that with mistrust in the medical system and nobody enjoying getting a needle, and you have some people that WANT vaccines to be a bust to justify avoiding something they don’t want to do.
During the 50s, it was common to return to school in the fall, to find out 1 or 2 classmates had died of polio over the summer.
My wife’s family still talks about little Buzz, a 5 year old cousin who died of polio in the backseat of his car, as his Dad raced to the hospital. It was in the 50s, and the old folks in the family would talk of it like it was yesterday.
Nobody has had that experience in decades, so people have forgotten about it, and our educational system has been deliberately downgraded so nobody is taught anything important any more.
I honestly believe the education system is more to blame than anything besides the anti vax people themselves. There’s so much nonsense pseudoscience posted online by uninformed and grifters, then their cult of stupidity fills the holes with comments that reinforce the legitimacy of their quackery. Even reasonable people get sucked down the rabbit hole.
When my son was born my wife had been fed this bullshit and suggested delaying vaccination. I sat her down and was able to address her concerns and get her to understand the science and statistics so he stayed in the doctor’s recommended schedule but not everybody is going to have a spouse who cash reel then back in.
Facebook mom groups perpetuate this pseudoscience. You are a young mom and want to commisserate with people, but half of them will scold you for things totally not scientifically sound.
I recall posts suggesting cow’s milk would poison your baby if used before 1 year old, yet cheese or yogurt was no problem. I went down the rabbit hole and it was essentially a bastardization of recommendations that breast milk or formula should be the bulk of your baby’s diet rather than cow’s milk, not that cow’s milk was poison.
Another time they scolded a mother for making a fruit smoothie, because they felt she could have overdosed on vitamin A. I’ll point out that dietary vitamin A mostly has to be converted from beta carotene to its active form, so it is incredibly hard to overdose unless you are using vitamin supplements. And yet fruit smoothie mom was in trouble, but eating 10 Big Macs was no big deal, as the magic guidelines never said no.
I wonder if it’s that most of us alive today have very little memory of people who suffered the diseases themselves. Our parents and grandparents knew people who died or had long-term negative effects from measles, polio, smalllpox, etc.
We are insulated from that to the point where some flirt with the idea that maybe the disease isn’t that bad. Combine that with mistrust in the medical system and nobody enjoying getting a needle, and you have some people that WANT vaccines to be a bust to justify avoiding something they don’t want to do.
During the 50s, it was common to return to school in the fall, to find out 1 or 2 classmates had died of polio over the summer.
My wife’s family still talks about little Buzz, a 5 year old cousin who died of polio in the backseat of his car, as his Dad raced to the hospital. It was in the 50s, and the old folks in the family would talk of it like it was yesterday.
Nobody has had that experience in decades, so people have forgotten about it, and our educational system has been deliberately downgraded so nobody is taught anything important any more.
I honestly believe the education system is more to blame than anything besides the anti vax people themselves. There’s so much nonsense pseudoscience posted online by uninformed and grifters, then their cult of stupidity fills the holes with comments that reinforce the legitimacy of their quackery. Even reasonable people get sucked down the rabbit hole.
When my son was born my wife had been fed this bullshit and suggested delaying vaccination. I sat her down and was able to address her concerns and get her to understand the science and statistics so he stayed in the doctor’s recommended schedule but not everybody is going to have a spouse who cash reel then back in.
Facebook mom groups perpetuate this pseudoscience. You are a young mom and want to commisserate with people, but half of them will scold you for things totally not scientifically sound.
I recall posts suggesting cow’s milk would poison your baby if used before 1 year old, yet cheese or yogurt was no problem. I went down the rabbit hole and it was essentially a bastardization of recommendations that breast milk or formula should be the bulk of your baby’s diet rather than cow’s milk, not that cow’s milk was poison.
Another time they scolded a mother for making a fruit smoothie, because they felt she could have overdosed on vitamin A. I’ll point out that dietary vitamin A mostly has to be converted from beta carotene to its active form, so it is incredibly hard to overdose unless you are using vitamin supplements. And yet fruit smoothie mom was in trouble, but eating 10 Big Macs was no big deal, as the magic guidelines never said no.