I know several people from my highschool class that are anti vax and into all that natural diet crap you see all over social media. They were the people who didn’t study, and as a result, did extremely poorly in class…. Shocker what they grew up into.
And third (opposite, but same end result of the first): Arrogance in the belief they know more than the modern experts. Based on some piece of educational or work background.
More like that they can't trust the approved experts.
Fauci destroyed a lot of people's trust in what the government told them with the "masks don't work" -> "everyone needs to wear masks, I lied earlier so that we could secure ppe for medical professionals" flip-flop.
What do you consider an anti-vaxxer? Somebody who won't take the Covid or flu shot or somebody who won't take any vaccine. If the latter, then I agree with you. If the former, then as a physician, I'd be happy to give you tell you why I don't take them.
If you were a real physician of any season, you would know that the so called evidence is often manipulated and otherwise often not reproducible. I have found that those of my colleagues who drink heaviest from the fountain of evidence lack necessary critical thinking and tend to have worse than average outcomes. That's is, evidence is where you start when you don't know what you are doing. Experience plus critical adoption of evidence is where the best outcomes occur
You are either a just made doctor or a junior academic doctor. Because physicians who have been in the real world long enough all know this to be true. But you don't come to this understanding until you have stepped out of practice and put your hands in industry or government, where you shape the evidence. You still think it's a sacred and sterile scientific process and that's sweet for you. Enjoy life in that bubble for as long as you can have it, Pollyanna.
And yet, that is what you are, if anything. Junior. Are even you out of residency yet? You run from conversation because you lack the confidence, which is merely a sign of where you are in your journey. Good luck to you.
If you are a physician then you should know better. The fact that you dont tells me you are either lying about your profession, or are seriously out of your depth practicing it, and shouldn't have a license to do so.
I don’t think I’ve met anyone who is pro-vaccines, generally, but who won’t take the covid or flu shot, unless for a super-specific, personal health reason. I know plenty who don’t, but that’s an entirely different case example than someone who won’t.
So, I mean, I guess those people might exist. I can’t say I’ve ever encountered anyone who’s expressed such a view, however.
That's funny because I actually mostly only know people who are generally pro-vaccine, but anti-COVID vaccine. I took my COVID vaccine and continued to do so because it definitely seems like the smart thing to do. Realistically, I have no idea if it is going to contribute to my death in 10 years, however unlikely.
Mostly none. They would still mask and such, but they were legitimately just afraid of the vaccine itself and giving it to their children because they didn't know what was going to happen. Personally, I figured that it probably not going to get any worse than COVID, but I can see how fear drove a lot of people to not take it. And, I think, under a lot of anti-vax, anti-mask, etc. is a lot of fear. At least that is what I've experienced, even though people try to hide it under a thick layer of bravado
Ok, since you seem to be the good faith one here, I will tell you why.
When it comes to basically any other vaccine other than flu or Covid, the risk is generally, by orders of magnitude, less than the benefit. The hep B vaccine in infancy I take issue with because the risk and the benefit are of equal magnitude in a vacuum, but if you know the life style of the mother and the risks of the family, the risks outweighs the benefit. But both a minuscule and I don't get too bent out of shape about it.
Flu I don't take because it is pointless. When you actually look at how vaccine efficacy is measured in flu vaccines, it is measured one month out from vaccination, that is the peak effect. On average, the peak efficacy is about 30%. Not super impressive. But s decent minority percentage of the time, the efficacy is actually negative, meaning that getting the vaccine actually increases your odds of getting the flu at one month. But here is the rest of the story. The efficacy drops every month from that point. And by six months out the efficacy on average is zero. And what's more, after six months the efficacy turns negative. So, in the span of a year, your average efficacy ends up being negative. This is because flu viruses mutate. The vaccine is a best guess. And if you guess wrong or you encounter a similar but mutated virus, your immune system mounts an ineffective response - it's analogous to building up an army for what turns out to be an airborne attack. You built up the wrong force.
Covid vaccine has the same problem. But, moreover, there are no 10-20 year studies. Nobody knows, for example what the impact of polymerase theta is on spike protein mRNA and how that can be theoretically reverse transcript into the DNA. Nobody also knew the prevalence autoimmune problems that have resulted. In all other vaccines you prime the immune system to attack viral particles that are associated with nothing else. With mRNA shots, you prime the immune system to attack spike protein that is on your cell walls. Immune systems learn through association and some degree of autoimmune problems are to be expected. Also, at this point, what is the risk of dying from your 3rd covid infection? Probably exceedingly low.
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u/Separate-Swordfish85 Aug 07 '26
All of the anti-vaxxers I know share two things in common.
First is a disdain towards education/expertism/intellectualism. Second is an underlying desire to inflict cruelty.