Arathain Kelvar wrote:
Well, I think that forcibly taking a child away from a parent and injecting a foreign substance into their body against their will is a huge violation of rights....Now, once this is a forced practice, what do you do when a child has a severe reaction that causes permanent damage? If a parent opts out, and you cause their child permanent brain damage, coma, or deafness, what happens? Oh, that's the breaks? Sorry we broke your child?
I agree it's a major infringement of rights, which is why I'm only on board if the numbers pose a serious public health risk and the risks of the vaccine are comparatively minimal, which they are for the vaccines we're talking about. That said, yes, although the risks of getting the vaccines are very low and the benefits (both to the public and to the person who gets them) outweigh those risks, there is still a non-zero chance of a bad reaction. If that happens, there's not much you can do other than apologize and maybe compensate. Doesn't change the public health calculus though.
Arathain Kelvar wrote:
As for lazy policy, outreach and education is hard. It's much easier to force people to do what you want rather than try and convince them. I get that. But if there are areas with 60-70% opt out rates, the people in charge of education and outreach are not doing their jobs.
I was actually just reading about the difficulties faced by education and outreach programs. A recent study indicates that, basically, they don't work:
One of the most important studies to date is a 2014 paper in the journal Pediatrics, “Effective Messages in Vaccine Promotion: A Randomized Trial.” The researchers — Brendan Nyhan of Dartmouth College, Jason Reifler of the University of Exeter, Sean Richey of Georgia State University and Gary L. Freed of the University of Michigan — analyzed the results of a Web-based national survey of nearly 1,800 parents. After asking respondents about their own family health situations and beliefs, researchers then tested common public health communications strategies to promote vaccination: “(1) correcting misinformation, (2) presenting information on disease risks, (3) using dramatic narratives, or (4) displaying visuals to make those risks more salient or accessible.”
...The study’s conclusion was unequivocal regarding traditional messaging: “None of the pro-vaccine messages created by public health authorities increased intent to vaccinate with MMR among a nationally representative sample of parents who have children age 17 years or younger at home. Corrective information reduced misperceptions about the vaccine/autism link but nonetheless decreased intent to vaccinate among parents who had the least favorable attitudes toward vaccines.
The problem is not that the anti-vaxxers are ignorant or uneducated; the problem is that their attitudes are not based on factual analysis at all. I suspect it's more like a combination of personal identity and social signaling, and it's very, very difficult (maybe even impossible) for public education/outreach programs to counter that in anything but the very long-term.