Imagine you’re a parent with a young kid, and you’re hearing all these stories about vaccines and autism. Who do you trust?
On one side, you have science, saying, “We have no idea what causes autism. Our best guess is that it’s a complex concatenation of different factors. We have no idea how to predict whether your child will have it or if there’s any way to prevent it. In the meantime, we need to inject your child with this mysterious substance to prevent antiquated-sounding diseases that you’ve never seen or even necessarily heard of. If you heard somewhere that these injections may be bad for your child and you believe it, you must be stupid. We know the medical establishment sometimes gets things wrong, and that the pharmaceutical industry doesn’t always have your best interests at heart, but in this specific instance you need to trust us.”
On the other side, you have various anti-vaccination activists saying, “We know exactly what causes autism: these injections that you weren’t comfortable about to begin with. Notice how kids seem to begin showing their autism symptoms around the same time they’re getting they’re shots? Your intuition on these matters is right on. We’re looking out for your child against the big mean pharmaceutical companies and their government cronies. Isn’t it terrible how these forces are trying to suppress the truth? You should have a choice about what happens to your baby. Here are some more natural, organic alternatives.”
Which story is more emotionally appealing? I don’t doubt the science, but the medical establishment is doing a terrible job with their messaging. The anti-vaccinationists have all these heartbreaking moms, and they’re usually up against some condescending old man in a (metaphorical) lab coat. It would be a good idea to bring out a grandmother who remembers the polio era, a celebrity mother of an autistic child who got her other children vaccinated anyway, people like that.