Hacker News Reader

Comment by jisnsm | Hacker News Reader

[flagged]

We should cut wasteful spending! No not like that let's study the same thing that has been already studied to death until we get the answer we want!

There's not enough consensus and science communicators haven't been successful with convincing the American public about vaccines. This research will also be some of the most impactful science the CDC produces. If we bring all the deniers and skeptics to agree on a way to test it (e.g. double blind study), and then the results don't match their opinions, then continued denials makes their case unreasonable.

Right, if it is unreasonable a bunch of climate change denying creationists who think Canada is responsible for the US' drug problems will feel totally ashamed. Maybe they will even go to area 51 to ask for safe passage away from their shame in this galaxy.

Rhetoric, not science, convinces people, at least at the level of the general public.

It is nieve to think that an negative result will have any impact on the discourse here whatsoever.

Frankly, issue is not with science communicators not being successfully. Vaccines were accepted... until conservatives started to lie lie lie and lie again.

This is not about lacking research. This is about lying for profit.

The issue is that head of the HHS has led a years-long campaign against vaccines built atop shit-tier science and outright misinformation, and is part of a political movement that is growing increasingly anti-vaccine.

There is a clear possibility that the results will be cooked or otherwise fraudulent because the secretary will not take "no link" for an answer. Even if such a study is obviously deeply flawed or rigged, the damage it would do to public acceptance of vaccines would be unparalleled, measured in thousands (and likely more) of dead children.

We've already investigated this for science and showed there is no connection. Instead we're just wasting taxpayer dollars (MY dollars) on shitty research for the sake of some insane non-elected bureaucrats suffering from severe brain rot.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com