Reply To: The playing squad

[Anonymous]

Freedom of speech also includes the freedom to criticise, which means if you put forward an opinion it’s not protected from ridicule or disagreement. I am allowed to disagree with your stance, even if it hurts your feelings.

And not all opinions are equal; that’s politically correct rubbish. If one opinion is backed by evidence and the other not then it’s not ‘just another opinion.’ You can spout whatever crap you like, but don’t expect people to treat it seriously or as equally valid to an opinion which can be supported, and pleading about how your opinion counts doesn’t fit this criteria. No-one cares if someone has a belief in something, it’s what backs the belief up that counts. Anti-vaxxer arguments fail so much in this, as they have nothing beyond out of context ‘facts’ or distortions to support. As such they are not equal to scientific evidence for their effectiveness until proven otherwise. Not with opinions, but with data.

It’s recently been announced that polio is now gone from Africa. The reason is because of vaccines, so no, nonsense about vaccine injuries being a major concern is bunkum. Deaths from vaccines are far more negligible than the diseases they eradicate and the injuries are predominantly minor. As I say, the result of vaccine disbelief has been increases in cases in measles. Would these brave ‘sceptics’ who have led to this be willing to pay compensation for the greater deaths they cause than any vaccine injury? Of course they wouldn’t. They’re happy to peddle their nonsense, so long as they don’t face the consequences. If someone posts obvious nonsense which cannot be backed up by evidence then they can be dismissed.

If someone wants to spread nonsense conspiracy theories then they can do, but they don’t have the right to be taken seriously if their rubbish contradicts evidence, as it so often does. It’s dangerous bovine faeces which has caused people to die from preventable diseases, and no pleading about the far lesser risk of any vaccine injury, which has a likelihood so small it’s laughable.

For that figure you’ve given, here’s a balanced take on the subject, and not one found from the “vaccines causes autism” crowd:

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2019/05/vaccine-safety-program/589354/