The cat rescue myth and vaccines

My dad, an MIT-trained chemical engineer, was a practical man. He was scornful of efforts to rescue cats out of trees. His response was: “Look around; how many cat skeletons do you see in trees.”

Setting aside the merits of the cat rescue argument, the larger point is to use critical thinking to assess whether ambient reality justifies your fears.

In the case of vaccine safety conspiracy theories—vaccines kill or cause RFK Jr voice—the fact is that billions of humans all over the planet have been vaccinated. So where are the bodies? How come everybody I meet—including me—doesn’t have the creaky RFK Jr voice?

Look, vaccines ± thimerosal and ± aluminum adjuvants have been given to billions of humans by now. Hundreds of millions of pregnant women have taken acetaminophen during pregnancy. If these things cause autism, everybody you know, including you, would be autistic.

Can I “prove” that vaccines *can’t* cause autism or JFK Jr voice? No, I can’t. But that’s the wrong question. 

(a) Science doesn’t deal in proof; it deals in the weight of evidence. The weight of evidence, based on billions of data points, is that vaccines are safe and effective;

(b) It’s impossible to prove a negative. But given the experiences of billions of vaccinated people, the burden of proof that vaccines kill or cause RFK Jr voice is on those claiming that they do.

So look around yourself. It’s not because folks are wearing Big Pharma goggles. The reason you don’t see these things is because . . . wait for it . . . they didn’t happen. Anti-vax conspiracy theories demand you ignore the evidence of your eyes and ears. Like cat skeletons in trees, they just aren’t there.

Ask questions, peeps, but don’t forget to listen for answers.