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0 pointsBurningFrog1y ago0 comments

I'm convinced a lot of "antivaxxery" is simply redirected needle phobia.

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3 comments · 1 top-level

odyssey71y ago· 2 in thread

Possibly. I wonder what keeps us from adopting needle-free vaccinations. It seems like the tech has been available but not fully developed for decades.

We shouldn’t be dismissive about how sub-optimal it is that children are routinely held down and stabbed, against their protests, by authority figures. There’s nothing surprising about people growing up from this and not trusting medical experts.

recursivegirth1y ago

It depends, historically vaccines have been administered by injecting dead bacteria/organic matter that triggers your auto immune system to start generating the anti-bodies needed to fight whatever is being vaccinated against.

Irrelevant to the topic, COVID vaccines were developed with new technology that uses synthetic materials.

I am over simplifying a lot here, but the point is that sometimes you need to get that dead matter into the bloodstream to start the auto-immune processes.

odyssey71y ago

Historically, yes, but these days it seems more like a question of priorities.

To your point, it does depend: there are needle-free options available for some vaccinations currently, though in many cases children are nonetheless forced to take the version that they beg to decline.

The children have the least say in where the research funding goes, negotiating reimbursement contracts between payors and providers, planning pharma development pipelines… My opinion is that we’re failing them.

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