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this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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I'm not going to completely disagree with you, since the answer isn't so black and white. You are arguing that people are turning antivax due to loss of generational knowledge of these diseases (which you are equating to stupidity). There is probably some element of truth in it.
But we also have examples to the contrary. The covid pandemic and its vaccine are certainly a product of our generation. Yet, we have people outright denying the seriousness of the disease (it's just a flu!) and completely neglecting the massive loss of lives. That is not due to generational forgetfulness, but clearly due to mistrust.
I can't be sure, but I feel that the latter (mistrust) is a more significant cause of antivax sentiments than the former (loss of memory).
I think part of the difference we saw with COVID was the symptoms being very similar to influenza. People have been brushing off the flu for decades and didn't see any reason to be bothered by something they see as similar. Not necessarily mistrust, just apathy.
That being said, the anti-vaxxers that ended up losing family members to COVID by and large became non-antivaxxers. A few persisted of course, but that direct experience changed a lot of people's minds. They have nothing in their memory, or their parents memory that could compare to that.
With measles it was a lot more visual in nature, so it was a lot more obvious what was happening. I think COVID would have been taken a lot more seriously if it had given people a rash all over their body, or if they started bleeding from their eyes or something.