This ought to stir things up; the thing is, I'm not really interested.
Allen is sympathetic to parental fears regarding the dangers of various vaccines, though he remains skeptical that scientific studies of these dangers, no matter how rigorous, will open many minds. At this point, he writes, much of the “antivaccinist” leadership is composed of countercultural types who view life through the prism of conspiracy theory: the government lies, the drug companies are evil, the medical profession is corrupt; trust the Internet instead. A fair number oppose traditional medicine in favor of homeopathy, believing that vaccines weaken the immune system and that sickness is a natural part of life. “We treat our children like machines that are never supposed to slow down or let us miss a day of work,” a mother told Allen. “We never allow them the soulfulness of being ill.”
To a large extent, says Allen, this antivaccination impulse is fueled by an ignorance of the past. Vaccines have done their job so well that most parents today are blissfully unaware of the diseases their children are being inoculated against. The end result is a culture that has become increasingly risk-averse regarding vaccination because people have greater trouble grasping the reward.
The problem appears to be growing.
