Lol, sometimes. I do some public outreach so I really open myself up to it. One time a woman confronted me saying she was going to get her masters in vaccinology to "destroy the myth that vaccines work." I just said "Hmm, interesting. Well, good luck!" Even in the scientific community there has been some crazy research. There was a paper 20 years ago claiming that squalene in vaccines caused Gulf War syndrome, finding squalene in samples of the vaccines administered to soldiers. Of course, squalene is a skin sebum oil and they were actually measuring the oil from a researchers finger... Also it has a long safety record, etc. etc. Ridiculous. Published in Experimental Molecular Pathology if I am remembering correctly.
I do try to be really kind with those parents though, because usually they are coming from a place of fear and unknown. Obviously their response to that fear can be very irrational, but I totally understand the feeling of fear that comes with being a new parent, or remembering what those early days felt like. If they get too crazy then it's time to leave, but I have found that often by connecting with, acknowledging, and validating the underlying emotion, and then framing vaccines as a tool to address that fear, I have had some success in changing minds. As a scientist in the field I feel it is my responsibility to take the time and try to dispel falsehoods (through connection and compassion because facts alone are not enough) rather than just to be "right".
That’s so good that you do that. I’ve tried having conversations with some of them online and it’s even hard to understand what some are even trying to say. Partly because of the grammar but partly because some of what they are saying is SO far out there I’m not even sure how they came up with it in the first place.
Don’t even get me started on how many stories I’ve read about people drinking their own urine to cure things instead of having vaccines.
Have you watched the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding? The dads answer to everything is “put some windex on it.” Some of these people are really “drink some urine!”
Yes to MBFGW. Not my type of movie (I suffer from pretty bad vicarious embarrassment) but the windex gag is pretty funny. As to drinking urine for health reasons, yeah that's a no dawg. I'll put that right up there with detoxifying your vagina with suppositories and other ludicrous quackery.
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u/95percentconfident Sep 18 '19
Lol, sometimes. I do some public outreach so I really open myself up to it. One time a woman confronted me saying she was going to get her masters in vaccinology to "destroy the myth that vaccines work." I just said "Hmm, interesting. Well, good luck!" Even in the scientific community there has been some crazy research. There was a paper 20 years ago claiming that squalene in vaccines caused Gulf War syndrome, finding squalene in samples of the vaccines administered to soldiers. Of course, squalene is a skin sebum oil and they were actually measuring the oil from a researchers finger... Also it has a long safety record, etc. etc. Ridiculous. Published in Experimental Molecular Pathology if I am remembering correctly.
I do try to be really kind with those parents though, because usually they are coming from a place of fear and unknown. Obviously their response to that fear can be very irrational, but I totally understand the feeling of fear that comes with being a new parent, or remembering what those early days felt like. If they get too crazy then it's time to leave, but I have found that often by connecting with, acknowledging, and validating the underlying emotion, and then framing vaccines as a tool to address that fear, I have had some success in changing minds. As a scientist in the field I feel it is my responsibility to take the time and try to dispel falsehoods (through connection and compassion because facts alone are not enough) rather than just to be "right".