Thread by @angryhacademic

#Antivax narratives actively harm the voices of the legit vaccine injured.

Antivaxxers fuel fear, take stories out of context, and encourage others to not get vaccinated. this means the vaccine injured (who may not be able to get boosters) are now less protected by herd immunity

There is a cruel irony that antivaxxers often shout about side effects being hidden, but they are the ones driving some of the silence. When a study comes out (e.g. the viral vector blood clots) and...

it gets pounced on my conspiracy bullshit, taken wildly out of context, spun into something it isn't, and drives people away from a safe and effective public health measure, why the fuck do you think some people don't want to talk openly about these things?!

i've seen a fair few pretty suss examples where it looks like an antivaxxer has made up stories of a vaccine injury(ies). This de-legitimises the actually injured's stories and does not support the alleged cause of open and honest discourse

because of antivax bullshit, i imagine a few legitimate vaccine injured voices have probably been taken the wrong way by vaccine advocates (who can be equally as aggressive). this also fuels silence from individuals.

in short:...

let scientists & legit patients lead convos on vax side fx
dont extrapolate from cases
understand individuals are different to populations when it comes to risk
learn that your voice is not always important & shutting up may be the best thing
dont make shit up
stay in your lane

NOTES:
1. luckily, despite the nonsense, a lot of time & resources are going into understanding rare side effects of the vaccines, these are being reported openly & widely, & these key messages are trickling through to policy (e.g. changing the age recommendation for AZ vaccine)

2. if you think the above is in any way heartless, you do not understand my point. lots of drugs seriously do not work well for some ppl: tramadol slams my blood pressure to the floor; some people are allergic to antibiotics; anaesthesia can kill; others cant even take ibuprofen

this isn't unique to pharma drugs either: weed makes me want to vomit, MDMA can cause heart problems; alcohol toxicity can kill etc. to suggest no one should be taking these drugs because a minority of people react badly would be ridiculous

(exercise can cause injuries and kill too)