What antivax “think tanks” are paying 10x a doctor’s salary? And why? There’s not exactly a lot of money in it.

If money is your motivation, you work for Pharma, not against them.

Did you have a question? Or is the question mark because you need my approval?

Yes. The debate was about whether highly credentialed and educated experts can be wrong due to perverse incentives. As you pointed out, yes they can.

You can find so-called experts on both sides of any issue, so saying “a subset of so-called experts agree with me” is not a slam dunk argument.

I’m inclined to agree. But that demonstrates the point: you can find highly credentialed and educated experts on both sides of any issue.

Vaccines are unique in that one side (big pharma) has unlimited money, while the other side (doctors, scientists, and parents) don’t have nearly the same funding, and stand to lose everything by speaking out, yet still do at great personal cost.

It’s not a 1 in a million chance. It’s a lot higher.

Do you know how vaccines (live attenuated or adjuvanated) work?

Many prominent antivaxxers are MDs. A Nobel prize winner in immunology ranks among antivaxxers. There are experts on both sides.

Highly educated and credentialed people have complex disagreements on both subjects.

Climate change: that the climate changes and is changing is self-evident, but how it will change and how much of that change is influenced by human activity is a subject of fierce debate.

Vaccines: while nobody thinks that vaccines are never effective, studies consistently show links between high vaccination and chronic health issues, leading to many highly credentialed and educated doctors and researchers arguing that vaccines are a risk factor for SIDs and allergic rhinitis.

Henry Ford Health recently conducted a large study, which they themselves described as near perfect, that showed links to many chronic health conditions, though not autism.

But there are plenty of antivaxxers with PHDs…

The idea that its scientists vs bloggers was created by PR firms. It’s scientists and bloggers vs scientists and bloggers. Both sides have geniuses and idiots.

False dichotomy. There are credentialed doctors and scientists on both sides. It’s just that the actual research keeps coming down on the antivaxxer’s side.

Example: Henry Ford Health Dr. Marcus Zervos.

Yet that you took the time to tell me that would indicate otherwise.

Someone lied to you. Then they sort of quietly admitted a tiny part of it when called out. You believed them.

There’s gullible written on the ceiling.

Ok boomer

The conflation of antivaxxers with tin foil hat conspiracy theorists is the product of huge marketing and PR budgets. I read that Pfizer had something like 112 employees just dedicated to Reddit.

It’s not a grand conspiracy theory. It’s just money and perverse incentives.

People like Biden and Fauci went on TV and said “when you get vaccinated, the virus stops with you… you can’t get it and you can’t transmit it.” They forced people to get the vaccine or lose their jobs.

And as you noted, it didn’t work, or at least not well. The data shows that it offered some protection to the initial variant, but the protection waned quickly, and once it wore off, your immune system was primed for a variant that no longer existed, which meant that you were actually at increased risk for new variants.

I know vaccinated people who have been hospitalized with COVID multiple times, and unvaccinated people who can’t seem to get COVID if they tried. It didn’t work. They lied and made billions on that lie.

Now think about what else they’re lying about.

I don’t know where you got the 2% number and I think the real number is probably a lot higher, but let’s assume that number is right for a moment. I know what you’re probably thinking because I used to think the same thing. IF vaccines were not as safe and effective as claimed, that number would be a lot higher than 2%. Four vaccines to cause SIDS, cancer, autoimmune diseases, autism, etc. that would mean that a massive amount of very smart people we’re either dumb or lying.

It seems inconceivable. But, the pharmaceutical industry is incomprehensively, wealthy and powerful in part because they own or effectively own pretty much every major scientific and medical journal and every med school and medical textbook. And they have a government that mandates their products and protects them from lawsuits. You can’t sue a vaccine manufacturer.

Under those circumstances, at least one and 50 medical professionals is screaming from the rooftops that vaccines are not safe, even when the industry is dedicated to destroying their careers and reputations for doing so and is willing to throw essentially unlimited money at it.

And there’s the fact that every study done that truly compared vaccinated and unvaccinated, such as the recent Henry Ford health study, has found that the vaccinated had significantly higher rates of every disease studied. Whereas the unvaccinated had close to zero.

You know that phrase when people show you who they are believe them? You knew they were lying. They told you they knew for sure it was safe and you knew they couldn’t know that. Then they admitted a little bit that it might be a little bit unsafe, and suddenly you trusted them?

Imagine a wife, who knows that her husband has cheated on her with dozens of women. She knows that he is currently sneaking out behind her back again and confront him. After some arguing and denial, he eventually admits that he did see another woman, but insists that they only kissed. Should she believe him?

You sound like a boomer.

Decades of doctors, researchers, and Nobel prize winning immunologists willing to endure endless derision and destroy their careers.

Hundreds of thousands of parents with identical stories.

But we’re just the antivax crowd. Smart people believe the ads on TV.

You only had 100 dollars yet you put 500 dollars away each month?

Your privilege is showing. If you had 500 bucks a month lying around in your 20s, you were a lot better off than you realize.