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Comment by Eumenes | Hacker News Reader

My brother had a kid recently and their doc was pushing the Hep B shot like they got a commission on it. Mom gets tested for it multiple times during pregnancy. Doctor had no good answer on why an infant needs a vaccine for a STD. The excuses I've seen: they could trip and fall on a needle at a playground (lol)?

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The vaccine is effective for several decades, and hep b can spread through bodily fluids not just needles. Exposure to another kid with hep b could spread to your brothers kid.

From what I've seen on social media from the soft anti vax crowd, pediatricians nowadays are pushing for a lot more vaccines compared to their parents' time. There is a reason for each individual vaccine, sure, but the difference is huge and something to be wary of.

Alternatively: we have more vaccines available today than previous generations, they’ve gotten cheaper, and are (in some cases) more effective.

Problem is the risk vs reward question seems to be ignored in favor of talking about just the reward part. I'm sure there are reasons for not talking about the risk part like you don't want to be too chummy with the anti vax crowd or you don't want to discourage vaccine use but it makes most people's bs detector go off. There is never reward without risk.

Is that why its being pushed so hard? Or is it perverse incentives in the pharmaceutical industry? A case can certainly be made for both.

Or from sloppy kisses from adult relatives.

AFAIK it’s not spread through saliva, or maybe the probability of spread is just much lower? But yes, sloppy kisses from adult relatives are gross and spread other things like herpes.

The problem is kids sometimes end up unlucky with the wrong parents. Docs push vaccines because they’re cheap and effective, and the risk profile is low. You can’t fix parents who think they know better, you can only avoid your own kids interacting with the kids of those parents.

(have kids, fully vaccinated)

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