Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by acdha 3146 days ago
It's not an opinion or unrelated but an analogy to another case where there's very strong evidence of a massive benefit with very little downside which is being objected to based on conspiracy theories and lack of concern for the damage to anyone foolish enough to believe them.
1 comments

As a side note, the debate is not that simple. Vaccines work, but many vaccines are manufactured without what many would consider proper testing, and using toxic substances banned in different countries.

The debate is more about sloppy implementations than about the idea of vaccines as a whole. It's like someone is forcing the issue down to choosing poorly-regulated vaccines - or no vaccines at all. A false dichotomy.

The guidelines ask us to eschew flamebait, which means to avoid it altogether—both making it and taking it. This is what happens.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

> The debate is more about sloppy implementations than about the idea of vaccines as a whole. It's like someone is forcing the issue down to choosing poorly-regulated vaccines - or no vaccines at all. A false dichotomy

This actually goes quite strongly against what I've observed though. Literally all of the anti-vaxxers I've met are 100% against vaccines. They are not vaccinated, nor are their children.

They're not doing research and choosing to use some vaccines but not others. They're completely ignoring all vaccines.

> As a side note, the debate is not that simple. Vaccines work, but many vaccines are manufactured without what many would consider proper testing, and using toxic substances banned in different countries.

Those are big claims without any supporting evidence. From the sounds of it, you're repeating the anti-vax claims about mercury.

Ethyl vs Methyl mercury is one of the most popular debates (because mercury is scary!). Most vaccines switched to Thiomersal which has ethylmercury in it. However, even ethylmercury crosses the blood-brain barrier. Other 2 big ingredients are formaldehyde and aluminum. From there you have to get more specific about which vaccine you are talking about.
You still haven’t specified your claims. Which vaccines aren’t well tested? Which substances are included at levels known or suspected to be toxic, and by whom?
My claim is about the debate itself, not about any certain vaccine or danger.
So far you're following the anti-vax script perfectly: lots of FUD, no claims specified in enough detail to even evaluate them much less counteract the overwhelming evidence that vaccines are a public good with no reputable downside.
There's more mecury in the fish you eat and it's the methyl kind which sticks around for weeks. If you eat fruit, there's methanol naturally present which the body metabolizes into formaldehyde. I am willing to bet your kid gets a higher dosage of formaldehyde from the juices they drink then a vaccine.