Absolutely, there was something really weird around vaccines long before covid.
Vaccines have been some sort of sacred cow for many years (if not decades) now. We've had threads here about it before. I've mentioned how deeply weird it is that it's still possible to have rational conversations about other medical interventions, of the "yes they have their place but they do have risks and get over-used variety," but the second you suggest that vaccines have the same risk-benefit considerations as other medical interventions, one size does not fit all, just because a little might be good doesn't mean more is better, and there is likely a profit motive behind all the vax-pushing and the explosion of the childhood schedule, all of a sudden previously reasonable-seeming people will go full head-swiveling-360-degrees dead-eyed bat-shale bonkers and start shrieking pro-vax mantras like they're possessed by demons (maybe they are, at this point I can't rule anything out).
Somewhere, somehow, vaccination became a marker of an in-group belief system among certain groups of people. The Good People, the Smart and Educated ones, all KNOW that Vaccines Save Live, Vaccines Are Safe And Effective, Get Your Vaccines!, and that people who are "vaccine-hesitant" need to be Educated (coerced) into getting them (ALL of them), and anyone who questions this program is a stupid, ignorant, uneducated, misinformed, potentially dangerous "anti-vaxxer" moron, and clearly Not One Of Us, Dear.
The fact that this particular medical intervention has achieved this status is just....bizarre, to say the least. I've been watching it and puzzling over it for a good 20 years now. Seems like it just keeps getting more extreme.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2023-06-29 12:17 pm (UTC)Vaccines have been some sort of sacred cow for many years (if not decades) now. We've had threads here about it before. I've mentioned how deeply weird it is that it's still possible to have rational conversations about other medical interventions, of the "yes they have their place but they do have risks and get over-used variety," but the second you suggest that vaccines have the same risk-benefit considerations as other medical interventions, one size does not fit all, just because a little might be good doesn't mean more is better, and there is likely a profit motive behind all the vax-pushing and the explosion of the childhood schedule, all of a sudden previously reasonable-seeming people will go full head-swiveling-360-degrees dead-eyed bat-shale bonkers and start shrieking pro-vax mantras like they're possessed by demons (maybe they are, at this point I can't rule anything out).
Somewhere, somehow, vaccination became a marker of an in-group belief system among certain groups of people. The Good People, the Smart and Educated ones, all KNOW that Vaccines Save Live, Vaccines Are Safe And Effective, Get Your Vaccines!, and that people who are "vaccine-hesitant" need to be Educated (coerced) into getting them (ALL of them), and anyone who questions this program is a stupid, ignorant, uneducated, misinformed, potentially dangerous "anti-vaxxer" moron, and clearly Not One Of Us, Dear.
The fact that this particular medical intervention has achieved this status is just....bizarre, to say the least. I've been watching it and puzzling over it for a good 20 years now. Seems like it just keeps getting more extreme.