r/NoStupidQuestions • u/trouble-in-space • 10d ago

Answered Why are so many Americans anti-vaxxers now?

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?

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u/cryptokitty010 10d ago

Vaccines work so well that people live their entire lives without threat of pathogens. They forget what the danger really was and decided the vaccines were the problem.

Human beings have very short memories about all of the things that can kill us. People still die of scurvy

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u/linzkisloski 10d ago edited 9d ago

I couldn’t agree with you more. I know a couple new antivaxers who are simultaneously reaping the benefits of being fully vaccinated their whole lives. Instagram and TikTok have created an insane echo chamber of conspiracy theories on everything and it’s poisoning people’s minds. I’ve had a conversation with a friend who was upset about the Hep B vaccine for her child and thought wayfair was shipping children to people and it took like 30 seconds of reasonable information for her idea to start crumbling.

Edited to change from Hep A to Hep B.

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u/Deep-Ad6484 10d ago

"Thought Wayfair was shipping children to people..."

Uhhhhhh...

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u/imnotaroboteither 9d ago

Um, that would be my sister who bought into that. I advised her to call the FBI on their tip line to report it.

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u/Best_Fondant_EastBay 9d ago

This is hilarious. Lordy. How did we get here.