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Comment by thelopa | Hacker News Reader

That statistic could equally be cited as evidence that vaccines are overwhelmingly safe but are plagued by widespread, unfounded belief that they cause harm. It certainly isn’t insurmountable proof that they cause harm. If you want to prove that vaccines cause harm you will need different data.

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If you read the article, experts say that the statistic is rather due to the extremely high amount of red tape required to even file a claim (you basically need a lawyer). Plus, the idea of paying a niche lawyer for less than 6% chance of success is enough to make everyone give up, and not everyone can afford said lawyer because it is so complex. You also must provide a medical basis and explanation for how it happened (otherwise it's legally just a coincidence), which requires additional paperwork by doctors, hospitals, and so on. And last, all claims must be filed within 1 year of the vaccination, so if you develop something, say, 10 months later, you have only 2 months to figure out the mess and file the claim. If it took you 3 months to put the medical basis together - too late.

Plus, it's just common sense. Even by the official statistic of Thrombosis happening in "4 cases per one million" according to the CDC (as one potential side effect), that would indicate we should have 896 cases at a minimum, let alone authorized payouts.

You lost me with "Plus, it's just common sense."

https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/logicalfallacies/Appeal-...

It seems like you can’t make up your mind whether you’re trying to prove the government is doing a bad thing or whether the vaccines are unsafe. For the sake of argumentation, let’s say that the 4 cases of thrombosis per million is accurate, and all 4 cases are very severe. In that case, yeah, we should probably see more court settlements in favor of patients, and the government is doing a bad thing.

However, if only ~900 people in the whole country have a severe reaction to vaccines but they save millions of people annually by preventing deadly and debilitating diseases, then you’ve shot yourself in the foot! That statistic is strong evidence that vaccines are very safe and likely produce more good than harm!

Vaccines kill a few dozen people and harm a few hundred a year while saving literally millions of people from death and severe harm. They are one of the greatest advances in medicine.

There is surely no better way to convince people than calling their beliefs unfounded

How else are you supposed to convince someone of a point, if not by mentioning the evidence?

I find that evidence is only loosely related with what people believe, to be honest.

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