The other night The Nightly Show had a panel discussing the pro-vaccination/anti-vaccination (“I prefer to call it the pro-choice movement”) debate.

I was very disappointed by the anti-vaxxer’s showing. I realize my bias leans towards pro-vaccination, but I was looking forward to receiving information that would at least force me to reconsider or reexamine my position.

Using that show as representative of what the debate is about, here is what was advanced as the main arguments of why she’s against vaccination:

1) drug companies make money from vaccines (lots of money)

2) parents ALWAYS know what’s best for their children and are completely within their rights to engage in anti-societal behavior to the point of putting other parents’ kids at risk

3) healthcare providers do a crappy job of getting informed consent for vaccination

4) people are scared of science, math, and statistics, and discussing vaccines intelligently requires a sound understanding of all three

Not a single argument advanced on the show addresses whether vaccines do the job they’re supposed to do and whether they do that job safely with minimal risk.

My responses to the arguments raised are as follows:

1) There are lots of reasons to be distrustful of “the man.” But if your sensitivities are offended by the commercialization of medicine, fight for socialized medicine and government funded research expansion.

2) If you truly believe parents ALWAYS know what’s best for their kids, shadow child protective service investigators for a month. The saying is “it takes a village to raise a child.” And the truth is, children need to be around other children. Choosing not to vaccinate creates isolation by necessity for children who can’t be vaccinated for reasons more compelling than an individual parent’s judgment. In some communities choosing not to vaccination leads to the un-immunized child being ostracized.

3) If healthcare providers need to do a better job on informed consent, put your efforts towards making that happen. The anti-vaxxer came up with an interesting factoid (that I have not independently verified) that African-American boys were 3.4x more likely to experience an adverse reaction to the MMR vaccine when following the CDC immunization schedule. That fact does not support a conclusion that all vaccines are bad. That fact tells me an African-American parent has sound reason to slow down their son’s vaccination schedule, but the rest of us don’t.

4) I don’t know what to suggest for remedying No. 4. Other than to say, suck it up and use the thing between your ears towards its highest ability.

Peripherally, the Tuskegee trials were brought up during the show. I’m all for demanding accountability from the man. That’s what the American Experiment exists for and why we’ve got the bill of rights. But if something works, and the eradication of measles in 2000 suggested that at the very least the Measles vaccine worked, don’t f*ck it up for other people a decade later because you’re concerned about a flu vaccine. Different virus, different concern.

If you can learn and memorize Pokemon you can learn and memorize the different viruses and the vaccines that are available.

#keepingit100