Featuring quotes by @greyson.bsky.social & @formerantivax.bsky.social. Note the importance of lack of judgement here. If you're going to interact w/folks who haven't vaccinated their kids, being assholes to them isn't a great strategy. You don't know their reasoning. /1 - ThreadSky

aetiology.bsky.social • 2 days ago

Featuring quotes by @greyson.bsky.social & @formerantivax.bsky.social.

Note the importance of lack of judgement here. If you're going to interact w/folks who haven't vaccinated their kids, being assholes to them isn't a great strategy. You don't know their reasoning. /1

Reposted from Liz Szabo

Formerly anti-vax parents on how they changed their minds: ‘I really made a mistake’

www.theguardian.com/global/2025/...

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opus3.bsky.social•2 days ago

First thing I tell the is the truth: RFK Jr. makes money off of getting people to not get vaccinated and use some product they sell, Mr. Wakefield was paid to do and document his test, big Pharma doesn’t make big bucks on vaccines… that money is made on “boner” pills, etc.

aetiology.bsky.social•2 days ago

Do you ask them what their concerns are first? That might not resonate as much with some folks.

opus3.bsky.social•2 days ago

Of course. Many do the big Pharma making tons of money on vaccines . They don’t know the cash cow the boner pills are.

dwaynefuhlhage.bsky.social•2 days ago

My daughters were little when the HPV vaccine first came out. It was difficult to sort reputable information from disinformation, and that was before Facebook supercharged the social media disinformation space.

aetiology.bsky.social•2 days ago

Yep. My first was born in 1999, just a year after Wakefield's study & long before we knew it was fraudulent. Luckily I was trained to read science papers but few have that experience.

commchf.bsky.social•2 days ago

I loved visiting old graveyards as a child and getting rubbings from the headstones. I noticed lot's of little kids graves dated before the 60's.

Taught me all I needed to know.

aetiology.bsky.social•2 days ago

/2 Too often, everyone is lumped together, esp today when vaccination has become politicized. But it's a spectrum. Many in the middle are just fearful and don't know who to trust. If you start with questions instead of hostility, you might be able to plant a seed.

aetiology.bsky.social•2 days ago

/3 Especially for folks in your social circles, being the person they can come to with questions is a place to start. It can be frustrating when they don't listen right away. I get that. But many folks report that first seed of skepticism can take a bit of time to blossom.

aetiology.bsky.social•2 days ago

/4 One pub i wrote on this:

aetiology.bsky.social•2 days ago

/5 And one article:

aetiology.bsky.social•2 days ago

So before you scream @ the next person who shares AV material, maybe start by asking them where they got that info & why they think that person/group is reputable, or if they have particular concerns about vaccines that you could answer. Might not help but you also don't know who else is reading.

aetiology.bsky.social•2 days ago

This is also why I have so much ire for RFK Jr & other antivax leaders. They profit from lying to scared patents. They have a whole machine to spread disinformation. We should be more understanding when people fall for it and help them dig out.

chele4l1fe.bsky.social•2 days ago

In other words, in order to persuade people to not be like Trump, don't be like Trump

aetiology.bsky.social•2 days ago

Yep. I mean, does that ever convince anyone to change? Might make one feel better by letting off steam but it's honestly counter-productive for the rest of us trying to do the work.

mjosmurphy.bsky.social•2 days ago

Fortunately, the only antivax couple I know who hasn't vaccinated their kids also have a 2 m x 3 m plywood Trump/Vance sign in front of their house, so I know what their other positions likely are.

mattbrignall.bsky.social•2 days ago

Maybe, but in my clinic, we see vaccine refusal from Rogan fans, megachurch families, African-Americans, hippie farmers, Ukrainian refugees, etc etc. This is not a monolithic movement, nor does it happen for the same reasons.

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