[nyandaber]

But they're not safe. Like any kind of medication, there's a risk of hidden effects or bad reaction that could and do happen. Rather than trying to lie, I think it's better to be honest about the possible side effects, and communicate about the nasty diseases we don't have to deal with thanks to those vaccines. Most anti-vaccines are stuck on the possible danger of vaccine, and aren't balancing it with all the benefits that come because we forgot how bad those diseases were.

[wolf550e]

The risk is something on the order of 1 child per million dies (or gets a lasting severe outcome, IIRC). That's ~4 children per year in the US, traded for the lives of millions.

[Waterluvian]

Calling them safe is an abstraction that simplifies the conversation. Seat belts are meant to keep you alive at all costs. Often they're very damaging. But calling them unsafe muddies the conversation.

[jogjayr]

The biggest danger that the anti-vaxxers focus on, autism supposedly caused by vaccines, is based on a discredited paper published by a now-discredited researcher. It has no basis in fact.

[gpvos]

No one is denying that there is a chance of a bad reaction or side effects. Safety is always relative, and vaccination is a lot safer than non-vaccination.