Why we need to fight misinformation about vaccines | Ethan Lindenberger

Ethan Lindenberger never got vaccinated as a kid. So one day, he went on Reddit and asked a simple question: "Where do I go to get vaccinated?" The post went viral, landing Lindenberger in the middle of a heated debate about vaccination and, ultimately, in front of a US Senate committee. Less than a year later, the high school senior reports back on his unexpected time in the spotlight and a new movement he's leading to fight misinformation and advocate for scientific truth.

[shastak]

“Good ideas don’t avoid criticism” remember this

[knytrydr]

The suppression of information, regardless of its source or purpose, is never a good thing.

[Sweetwildflower]

My Dad had polio, as the vaccine was being created. Vaccinations saved SO MANY lives!!

[geraldmerkowitz]

I wasn't that comfortable talking in public when I was his age

[brunopaquin]

To fight misinformation we would need to ne informed by something more than the safe and effective slogan we hear a million times a day.

[SoftwareSadhu]

When you give a whole TED talk with one hand in pocket

[fruehlingsbotin]

I and my kids are vaccinated, but i still believe it is wrong to get rid of anti-vaxx books and to forbid people to talk about anti-vaxx stuff. That's a very dangerous thing to do.

[jbmetrics]

The problem as I see it with the whole vaccination/anti-vaccination debate is that both sides aren't being entirely open and honest which is why the discussion has gone off track and not addressed the real issue regarding the resistance:


Not all vaccines are equally effective. Not all vaccines are risk-free and have no life-long side effects. Not all countries have support for families having to deal with the children who do suffer life-long disabilities from side effects from vaccinations (some did, but their funds dried up or were lobbied away as required and the pharmaceutical companies were given immunity from prosecution).

So the issue isn't the science (vaccines need a critical mass of people on them to prevent the spread of these diseases and many of them work extremely well most of the time). It isn't even a debate that like all medication, vaccines can cause side effects (some even life-long disabilities). The issue is we aren't holding the pharmaceutical industry accountable (if they were, they would be encouraged to improve their formulation and delivery to reduce risks and side-effects), The issue is we aren't supporting the families that have to take care of children for their entire lives with disabilities from vaccines for the very small number that do have side effects and react to the vaccines. (Note: vaccines do not cause autism, but a child with autism can already have a weakened immune system or a compromised blood-brain barrier, that makes them have an increased risk of getting either a temporary or permanent side-effect (obviously not as bad as getting the actual disease we are attempting to prevent, but nonetheless, there needs to be better support for families dealing with side effects).

Both sides need to be honest. The anti-vaccination side needs to stop debating the importance of vaccinations, and the pro-vaccination side needs to be more transparent about the effectiveness, report and address the side effects, and resume the funds that were there in the 80's and 90's that were set up to help families of those that did have life long side effects from vaccinations in order to rebuild trust between the pharmaceutical industry (who wanted a quick way out of financial exposure, be guaranteed a secured revenue stream and lobbied for the change) and the general public. What we need the conversation to move toward now is how we return to what was a working system, where the pharmaceutical industry did have to pay into a fund to support those that suffered from side effects, have a government allow their health branches to report on the effectiveness of each vaccination and allow doctors to discuss the risks (like we do with all other medication and medical procedures; essentially lift the current gag order in place in many countries).

[jsawyer]

It is ironically mis-informative to NEVER have the debate of vaccination vs natural immunity.

[durdleduc]

The man that took his 15 seconds of fame and actually used them to make a difference.

[JamesKovacic]

If you’re wondering why there are a bunch of dislikes, it’s actually because the video was unable to watch for a while after it was uploaded, not antivaxxers. People wanted to see the clip but for some reason they couldn’t, so that’s why they disliked it. I’m not making this up. I tried to watch this earlier and it didn’t work

[jeffdown]

"fight misinformation" which means not discussing the science of vaccines. so how about holding the vaccine manufacturers accountable for vaccine injuries instead of protecting them with a different court system ? There's a good start. There's protection and oversight of our food production by the FDA it especially should be true for the vaccines or anything Injected

[kyronhellmrich]

What about when misinformation comes from the government?

[ohaRega]

When I was his age I stood on a lidless trash can without holding onto anything for over a minute.

[thewellroundedmama]

All the information you need...is in the insert.

[shiniquajones]

Look into your family history, my grandparents and great grand parents lived to be in their 90’s without vaccines. Some older people got 3-4 without any boosters and lived long lives but the current vaccine schedule is in the 60’s. Vaccines were only invented in the last century, how did humanity make it this long without them?

[GauravGRocks]

I'm scared for humanity looking at all the dislikes...

[pomponnette]

I am in the same situation as him; my parents always refused to get me vaccinated. This video disappointed me since I was expecting arguments, informations that could help me to know wether I want to do it or not. Not just "it's bad to tell lies to people". I wish at least he explained why it is so dangerous not to get vaccinated, with statistics or anything.

[charlottescott]

I work as a GP in the UK. We have a huge rise in cases of Mumps and Measles. We are seeing men become infertile because of their parents choices and other suffer or have life changing disabilities

[patrickoleary]

Cape cod has a covid outbreak, 75% of the people that got sick were fully vaccinated, so we should take the vaccine so we have more of a change of getting sick