[thu2111]

And how dangerous are the two sides? Can you quantify that? I've never seen the anti-vaxx debate turn into a civilised discussion of balanced risks vs rewards. It's always a pile on against "science deniers".

I think I just gave you an example. Anyone who objected to Pandemrix on the principle that they were an anti-vaxxer would have been classed as a paranoid anti-science crank right up until it turned out, whoops, there actually was a problem with it, at which point they magically changed into people with "rational concerns".

That's obvious now but it wasn't at the time when it actually mattered: at the moment children were being injected with it.

How many anti-vaxxers have you talked to personally? For me I must admit the answer is none. I know these people exist only through media reports. I no longer trust the media, especially when it comes to the matter of "experts" and their reliability, so that's already a bad start. So are you sure MMR is their only reason for concern, or is that a "crude mis-characterisation" designed to dismiss them? There was an anti-vaxx movement in the USA before Wakefield so it's unlikely that's the only thing that motivates them.

Heck, how sure are you about the details of the whole MMR incident? Was Wakefield truly discredited? Remember that as far as the official establishment is concerned Professor Ferguson is still a reputable expert with an excellent reputation, and I definitely don't believe that, so apparently what the academy thinks of scientists isn't all that reliable.