nejm: The Age-Old Struggle against the Antivaccinationists

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*/The Age-Old Struggle against the Antivaccinationists/*

A. Poland, M.D., and M. son, M.D.

N Engl J Med 2011; 364:97-99

January 13, 2011

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1010594

*/excerpt/*: Today, the spectrum of antivaccinationists ranges from

people who are simply ignorant about science (or " innumerate " --- unable

to understand and incorporate concepts of risk and probability into

science-grounded decision making) to a radical fringe element who use

deliberate mistruths, intimidation, falsified data, and threats of

violence in efforts to prevent the use of vaccines and to silence

critics. Antivaccinationists tend toward complete mistrust of government

and manufacturers, conspiratorial thinking, denialism, low cognitive

complexity in thinking patterns, reasoning flaws, and a habit of

substituting emotional anecdotes for data.