Anti-Vaxxers and Vaccine Hesitancy

Viewpoint - Words Matter

Vaccines, like any other medical product, need to be carefully and cautiously assessed. And like any other medical therapeutic, if they do a poor job and do not deliver the promised outcomes, they cannot be advised to any patient for any reason.  The idea that there exists a protected class of medical products that cannot be scrutinized, is medicine gone very, very wrong.

Vaccines are todays equivalent of voodoo medicine: a fantastical, magical invention with amazing, unimaginable, superpowers. However, in reality, vaccines, like all medical interventions, should be advised cautiously after a clear risk, benefit analysis is discussed with patients and their concerns adequately addressed so they can make informed decisions.

Categorizing a patient as a vaccine hesitant, anti-vaxxer creates a situation in which medical professionals can no longer be considered unbiased. Pushing a medical intervention on a patient and using punitive measures to force compliance is a clear indication that the medical professional has significant and serious conflicts of interest.

To denigrate and discriminate against individuals because they have concerns about a medical intervention is not just egregious, but crosses into the territory of being criminal. And it has effectively shut down conversation and kept people from even considering legitimate viewpoints and facts.

In an incredible marketing feat, a medical intervention has been given the same rights as dis-enfranchised communities, who have been the target of hate and malice.

The term “anti-semitism” describes a harmful mindset from which a race of people should be afforded protection.

Now, is it fair to give this same protection to a product marketed by a company and sold for a profit? Is it fair to punish individuals because they have concerns about a medical therapeutic?

Malignant phrases like vaccine hesitancy are used to dismiss patient concerns. Labeling patients with terms like anti-vaxer in a medical setting, is a discriminatory practice, which should not be tolerated by physicians or patients.

Creating vaguely defined phrases to paint false narratives, serves a limited and specific purpose - to prevent questioning things that don’t add up or don’t make sense. It is simply another form of bullying.

Such discrimination and bullying are now the go to tactics being employed by left-wing extremist to push forward their agendas without scrutiny.