A medical mystery

Specifically, why is there a persistent movement to deny the safety and efficacy of vaccination? I can understand why there are creationists -- religious beliefs are deeply embedded in the culture, the priesthood has a strong vested interest in its own power and great sway over its followers, and people feel threatened by challenges to cherished and comforting beliefs.

I understand that racism fuels the birthers. AIDS denialism has multiple psychological underpinnings, but they are all related in one way or another to the stigma associated with the disease. Like the modern antivaccination movement, it got a big boost from a rogue scientist -- leading virologist Peter Duesberg who became a major crank. I believe what happened to Duesberg is that he started out asking legitimate questions and wanting more proof, but then found himself too deeply dug in to bow out gracefully when the questions were answered and the proof came. This is classically how rational people evolve into cranks.

Andrew Wakefield, who started the vaccine scare, may be a different story -- he appears to have faked his data for the simplest of all reasons, money. And now of course he cannot admit that. But granted the scare began initially because of a scientific publication, why won't it go away now that Wakefield has been irrefutably debunked? Yes, we had dishonest self-promoters such as Robert Kennedy Jr. link to the anti-vaccination movement as a phony liberal cause in order to build his own fame, probably in hopes of running for office as a crusader against the medical-industrial conspiracy. And we have the celebrity (why?) Jenny McCarthy using her public soap box to keep it going.

But still, there have to be deeper reasons why people so badly want to believe in this. You can't just stand up and start spouting any old nonsense and expect it to gain traction. Now that we have all this publicity about influenza people like Bill Maher and various pseudo-scientists on the Huffington Post are coming out of the woodwork to tell people not to get the vaccination for novel H1N1 influenza.

Now listen up folks. That's just plain nuts. I am notorious for believing that the corporate media and Daily Kos talk about the flu too damn much and don't talk nearly enough about other public health issues that are more important because they a) affect more people, b) cause much bigger problems because when they don't kill you outright, unlike the flu they don't go away in a few days but can cause long-term sickness and disability, c) are always around, not just in a brief episode and d) have political content and dimensions of justice.

But: You don't want to get the flu, H1N1 or any other kind. It will make you feel like shit, be out of commission for a while, and yes, might just turn into a serious disease or even kill you even though that's unlikely. And you might transmit it to others, so it's not just your own choice that's involved. Flu vaccines, novel H1N1 or otherwise, have a long record of being very safe and very effective. About the worst thing that can happen to you is a mildly sore arm. Advising people not to do it is not just mistaken and unhelpful, it is evil.

When you get the chance, get the shots. You'll need two this year, one for the so-called "seasonal" flu and a separate one for the novel H1N1. Get them both. End of story.