(The ointment is also primarily for chlamydia these days.)
I guess I don't see the point in rejecting the shot. It's a vitamin, it has a clear benefit, and no drawback.
However, that was pre-covid. I dont know how I would choose today... but I'd say dont blame these parents, blame the medical professionals.
That's a straw man. Nobody in authority said this once the vaccine was out and it was obvious that immunity wasn't 100% or permanent. All vaccines are different. No one knew until it came out what category this vaccine would fall into. You can still get measles after getting the measles vaccine. But you're much much less likely to die from it.
What the vaccine did do is greatly reduce the severity of the disease, which saved countless lives. See Wuhan, Northern Italy or NYC before lockdown. If the vaccine didn't work, as soon as lockdown ended, the hospitals would have filled to over capacity like they were in those places in the early days.
But I note that the "a politician was wrong once, therefore vaccines can't be trusted" folks don't tend to extend that theory to things like "tax cuts cause economic booms" or "abstinence only sex ed is super effective" sort of statements that have repeatedly flopped in tests.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/29/health/coronavirus-n95-fa...
(Which apparently stemmed from concern of shortages, but was a seriously bad way to address that.)
Between that and going back and forth on the efficacy of masks amongst other things, a lot of faith in these kinds of institutions was eroded.
ceejayoz•46m ago
baggy_trough•41m ago
chowells•38m ago
baggy_trough•21m ago
ceejayoz•20m ago
Anti-vax activists like RFK Jr. https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/healthpolicy...
baggy_trough•14m ago
ceejayoz•11m ago
He's actively suppressing publication of studies showing vaccine safety as a government official.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/05/us/politics/fda-covid-vac...
ceejayoz•35m ago
Fucking with vaccines kills people. Getting rid of USAID kills people. Selling cigarettes kills people. But none of these are crimes. Some of them probably should be.
j16sdiz•27m ago
Individual different is real. Law of large number is true only for large number. Until you can claim omniscience, I don't think we should make an individual responsible for a "statistical" crime for one individual.
Government policy, on the other hand, ...
ceejayoz•25m ago
Why not? We know tobacco execs lied about the dangers, even in Congressional testimony, and suppressed evidence. It's documented; no omniscience required.
Musk's DOGE cuts killed, at minimum, hundreds of thousands. It's highly likely he was aware of that likelihood.
golem14•33m ago