We need you to correct the bad direction this poll is taking. Clearly the anti-vaxxers have beaten us to it — get in there and provide the rational, evidence based perspective!
Do you believe the anti-vaccination movement is a health threat?
No 68.02%
Yes 31.64%
I’m not sure. 0%
I hear and obey.
Yes is now at 41%
Today there was an interesting post on Sullivan’s blog about how pediatricians are conflicted about treating anti-vax children. On the one hand, they may spread disease to their non-ignorant patients. On the other hand, it punishes children for the stupidity of their parents, and may promote the spread of disease because it makes it harder for the kids to get treatment. I thought it was an interesting discussion. Everyone agrees that anti-vax parents are scum and deserve all the consequences of their ridiculous ideas, but what about the kids?
Added my yes to the pile.
Voted yes.
Added my own yes. Yes is now ahead at 53.98 percent. Reason and common sense prevails.
Well… to some extent, the evidence actually *shows* they are not a health threat. Not that they wouldn’t be if they were effective, but rather that the *perception* of the negative effects of the anti-vax movement are far and away greater than the *actual* effects.
Actual rates of vaccination remain high, despite the anti-vaxxers efforts.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2386034
And yes, I know that is too nuanced an answer to fit the poll as written; there is not a “no, but only because the movement has continually shot itself in the foot by allowing utter idiots as banner-carriers.”
Damn Anti-vaxxers are jumping ahead. And I made the mistake of reading the comments. I’m going to go cry now.
Ysidro- yea, humans can really suck sometimes…
I’m now waiting for all the self-righteous agnostics to insist that we should be Pharyngulating the “I’m not sure” option.
Poll allows multiple voting. I’ve added my three.
Yes has pulled ahead. Yeah!
The cite was blocking multiple votes for me until I deleted recent cookies..
Yeah, the comments are frightening.
screechmonkey @9
I saw “Yes” at 62%, clearly this is a witch-hunt.
After reading some of the comments there I’m wondering when we’ll get a vaccination to prevent stupid thinking. My favorite was along the lines of “All the people I know got childhood diseases and they are still alive.” Yes, if they weren’t still alive, you wouldn’t know them. Or the one about illegal immigrants bringing their “special” diseases into the country. When I see religious ideas being taught in public schools, I can understand the lack of reasoning ability, xenophobia and anti-government feeling. Faith over reason leads to a dangerous world view.
Voted “Yes”
Currently”
Yes – 63.32%
No – 36.42%
Not sure – too few to register above 0.00%.
The anti-vax crowd over here in Oz have had to change their name as it was deemed misleading – and have had their charity status taken off them.
Little, bright moments of sanity in the world…
For a while now I’ve been remembering to regurgitate at least one of the two things my mother told me about as to allergies learned about when I was an infant. One of those, it turns out, is the MMR vaccine. Oddly enough, despite hanging out with this skeptic crowd for a few years now, it’s only just recently sunk in that, hey, wait a sec…I’m one of those people threatened by the anti-vaxxers.
Did my civil duty.
Me too. Yes is now over 65%.
What kind of doofus designs a poll that invites multiple voting by allowing you to return to the vote form after entering a vote? This poll will be “decided” by the first hacker to write a bot for his side. That probably means the “yes” side, since it’s hard to imagine learning to code with your head up your ass.
Glad to oblige but can’t find the poll…
“Yes” currently at 67%
Redwood@15:
Some of the comments over there could cause permanent facepalm, like the fool who doesn’t understand herd immunity, or the one who says that vaccines don’t work because they aren’t 100% effective, or the one who says that measles is good to get. The worst kind of ignorance is willful ignorace, because just plain ignorance can be cured with education.
gardengnome, the poll won’t show if you’re blocking the relevant scripts through NoScript or the like. I had the same problem until I allowed scripts one by one but then a bunch more appeared and I decided to screw it and temporarily allow them all so I’m not sure which one (or more) is actually responsible. Temporary permissions immediately revoked when done, mwuahahaha!
Cuttlefish,
Did you look at the map function at the site with the poll? There are many hot spots. The study at your link seems to be using an average vaccination rate to justify its policy advice.
What they fail to take into account is the wide variation in the numbers. Particular religious communities like Orthodox Reformed can locally bring vaccination rates down to zero, such as the outbreak that was recently reported at Mount Cheam Christian school in the Chilliwack area of BC. The disease has now spread out of that community because vaccination rates in general there are as low as 60%. Side effects and philosophical reasons are mentioned as well as religion.
From this NY Times article, in 2012, Washington state had its biggest outbreak of pertussis since vaccination began decades ago. One health professional was quoted saying that Washington had had the easiest opt-out law of all the states. CDC was quoted as having seen the case numbers rising steadily over the past few decades.
If the opt-out rate was 6% for children entering school for all of Washington, then eventually the average would have to drop below 95% required for measles. The reasons for opting out were given as fear of side effects or philosophical reasons. That would be the effect of the anti-vaxers right there.
@iasasai(#25) & others with blocking software.
The poll is courtesy of Polldaddy. The scripts is located at: http://static.polldaddy.com/p/7892282.js
I looked at the outbreak map and it shows no cases in France for 2013 but does show an outbreak of as few as six cases in other places. I guess then that France did not report their cases because my vaccinated grand-daughter –14-months old at the time– got it. There was an outbreak at her daycare center. As per policy here, getting the measles means the kid is excluded from daycare for a full month. She was miserable, as were her sleep-deprived parents and grandmother (me).
stever @ 21 —
Have you ever met a brogrammer?
Did my bit. “Yes” now at 72.18% :)
Put my vote in. Anti-vaxxers are one of my pet hates. Dad & his brother are hardcore anti-vaxxers (both have done work for the AVN in Australia) and we’ve had some horrible arguments on the subject. It’s infuriating, on nearly any other subject they’re reasonable guys but mention vaccination and their brains just shut down. Luckily for me they didn’t get into the movement until I’d reached adulthood so I’m properly vaccinated, it’d be nice if they’d stop pressuring me to not vaccinate my kids though.
That’s on cleveland.com? Ugh, don’t look at the comments. And if you do, please don’t think they represent my fair city.
as of now 73% Yes.
I don’t think it reflects well on what I’ve been reading and listening to lately that I want to start the yes-chant here…
Why is “I’m not sure” at 0%? That suggests that bots may be in play here.
Need I say, a “threat” is not a “risk”. YES the anti-vax movement is a real threat. Their teachings of falsehoods and fear of medicine in general is truly a threat to the health of ALL of us. Regardless of their actual health (statistics be damned); the movement is a threat.
—
Sorry to ask, but does this POLL have any effect on anything? We all know how representative online polling is [spambots, etc. Looking at all the capabilities the interwebs gives one].
Added my vote of yes earlier this a.m.
twas brillig (stevem) at #37:
If nothing else, the counter narrative against anti-vaxxer nonsense remains alive and loud, most importantly to people who may not know much about the issue.
Still learning,
Robert
Salon link.
The group of beautiful celebrities backing the anti-vax movement really irks me. Kristin Cavallari, Jenny McCarthy, Jim Carrey (well, okay, Jim may no longer be beautiful, but he does still have a bully pulpit). They don’t know what they are talking about, and the “research” they claim to have done exposes the Dunning-Kruger effect in their lives.
More from the Salon article, link in comment #39:
At least some journalists are taking Kristin Cavallari to task for her ignorance, most recently displayed on a Bravo cable TV show:
The host of the Bravo program did not ask any follow-up questions, so Salon’s Daniel D’Addario did. One of the advertisers on the Bravo program was Autism Speaks, an organization that continues to say that immunization triggering autism “remains possible.” Bleh.
“feels” trump rational thought, donchano??? “Feels” are the most important thing to consider in any decision a mother makes about HER children. All other children are inconsequential, hers are more important than anybody’s. If she had put that phrase in the past tense, as part of an apology for making a mistake, I would not be so harsh. E.G. “I felt I was making the best decision, but I was mistaken, Sorry.” [too much to expect :-( ]
81.32% yes at the moment. I’d say that the rationalists have, for the moment, won.
One thing I noticed is that the antivaxxers gave up. When they were leading, around 60%, they had a little over 1500 votes. They now have little more than 1700 as the “Yes” total quadrupled.
Are the educated using bots to vote, or are that many intelligent people getting involved? I would hope the latter.
I’m late to this party but I added my vote and it seems the tide has turned.
http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2014/03/measles_outbreak_in_new_york_b_1.html#pd_a_7892282
Thank you for voting!
Yes 82.93% (9,794 votes)
No 16.9% (1,996 votes)
I’m not sure. 0% (20 votes)
Total Votes: 11,810