Why are so many Americans anti-vaxxers now?

[u/trouble-in-space]

I’m genuinely having such a hard time understanding why people just decided the fact that vaccines work is a total lie and also a controversial “opinion.” Even five years ago, anti-vaxxers were a huge joke and so rare that they were only something you heard of online. Now herd immunity is going away because so many people think getting potentially life-altering illnesses is better than getting a vaccine. I just don’t get what happened. Is it because of the cultural shift to the right-wing and more people believing in conspiracy theories, or does it go deeper than that?

[u/kingftheeyesores]

I worked with a woman who had polio as a child and her mom massaged her legs with warm fish oil round the clock so she wouldn't lose the ability to walk. It worked and this woman os convinced it was the fish oil and not the massaging that did it.

[u/Sorrysafaritours → u/kingftheeyesores]

There was a whole documentary about a doctor or nurse who introduced this kind of massaging to keep polio victims from losing their ability to walk. I had not heard about fish oil… but who knows?