There is no debate. Pigs can’t fly just because you want them to. People who believe pigs can fly, are grifters, people who “feel” everything is out of their control, and deluded, fearful people who think they have found a truth that others want to take away from them.

Need some advice about preparing for a public debate about vaccines?

That’s easy.

“If you are invited for a public discussion you must first decide whether or not to accept the invitation.”

How to respond to vocal vaccine deniers in public

Don’t do it.

Preparing for a Public Debate About Vaccines

Wait, why wouldn’t you want to have a debate about vaccines?

Remember, a good debate implies that there are two valid sides to the issue. Or at least that one side has some arguments that aren’t based on myths and misinformation.

What are you debating?

That vaccines are safe, with few risks, and that they are necessary.

What’s there to debate?

Don’t allow false balance to create a fake debate.

Think about it.

Should Robert F. Kennedy, Jr be given an opportunity to tell folks his opinions about the “perceived dangers” of vaccines, when those perceived dangers include that vaccines are associated with autism, have been untested on pregnant women, are sold by the CDC, and a lot of other conspiracy type stuff?

“They get the shot. That night they have a fever of 103. They go to sleep, and three months later their brain is gone. This is a holocaust, what this is doing to our country.”

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr

Remember, Kennedy is the guy who published the retracted Deadly Immunity article. And he continues to focus on the dangers of mercury in vaccines, even though only a very small minority of flu shots still contain thimerosal and studies have shown that the thimerosal that kids have been exposed to in vaccines is not a danger.

He’s an environmental lawyer who continues to focus on vaccines in the age of climate change and as EPA regulations are being rolled back.

Neither Kennedy nor anyone else in the anti-vaccine movement should be given a stage to scare parents away from vaccinating and protecting their kids.

More on Preparing for a Public Debate About Vaccines

• The Modern American Vaccine Debate
• VAXOPEDIA – Anti-Vaxxers Should Be Able to Answer These Questions Correctly
• VAXOPEDIA – Ask 8 Questions Before You Skip a Vaccine
• VAXOPEDIA – False Balance about Vaccines
• VAXOPEDIA – Why Is RFK, Jr Pimping out the Kennedy Compound to Anti-Vaxxers?
• VAXOPEDIA – What Happened to Kennedy’s Vaccination Safety Committee
• VAXOPEDIA – Doing the Math on Kennedy, Vaccines and Mercury
• VAXOPEDIA – Does the CDC Own Any Patents on Vaccines?
• VAXOPEDIA – Did the FDA Admit That the Government Is Recommending Untested, Unlicensed Vaccines for Pregnant Women?
• VAXOPEDIA – Did the US Government Lose a Landmark Vaccine Lawsuit?
• VAXOPEDIA – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on Vaccines
• VAXOPEDIA – How Do Anti-Vaccine Folks Think?
• VAXOPEDIA – Dear Anti-Vaxxers,
• VAXOPEDIA – This Is the Modern Anti-Vaccine Movement
• VAXOPEDIA – The Moral Outrage of the Anti-Vaccine Movement
• VAXOPEDIA – Answers To Frequently Asked Questions About Immunizations
• VAXOPEDIA – 100 Myths About Vaccines
• VAXOPEDIA – Making Sense of Anti-Vaccine Arguments
• VAXOPEDIA – What Are the Pro and Con Arguments for Vaccines?
• VAXOPEDIA – Challenging the Concept of Herd Immunity
• VAXOPEDIA – Vaccine Analogies and Metaphors
• VAXOPEDIA – Show Me the Vaccine Insert!
• VAXOPEDIA – Personal Stories About Vaccine-Preventable Diseases
• VAXOPEDIA – The Myth That Measles Isn’t Deadly
• VAXOPEDIA – What Are the Demands and Goals of the Anti-Vaccine Movement?
• VAXOPEDIA – How to Become a Vaccine Advocate
• VAXOPEDIA – Answers to Anti-Vaccine Talking Points
• VAXOPEDIA – 50 Ways to Get Educated About Vaccines
• VAXOPEDIA – Anti-Vaccine Points Refuted A Thousand Times
• How to respond to vocal vaccine deniers in public
• Science deniers use false equivalence to create fake debates
• Avoiding False Balance: Vaccines in the Media
• The So-Called Vaccine Debate: False Balance in The San Diego Union-Tribune
• False Balance in the Media
• False balance about vaccines rises from the grave…again
• The effect of falsely balanced reporting of the autism-vaccine controversy on vaccine safety perceptions and behavioral intentions.
• Another Outbreak of ‘False Balance’?
• Jenny McCarthy’s Vaccination Fear-Mongering and the Cult of False Equivalence
• No need to offer ‘false balance’ to anti-vaxxers
• There is no other side to the vaccine debate
• For Our Family, There Is No Debate
• Vaccines cause autism debate – it only exists in the minds of vaccine deniers
• Facts vs. opinions: Beware of false balance in your reporting