N=1, but I would say that the ads for the HPV vaccine are doing a good job, because my kids (who very definitely do NOT like shots) did not complain at all about doing the HPV series. We had an insurance change just before my last one was due to have her last shot in the series, and somehow that took it off my short-term memory bank, so she got it late but in an acceptable amount of time. The new doctor and nurse were both very polite but professional when they saw that gap and inquired if there was a philosophical reason, to which of course I responded “nope, just my memory being stupid!”. But I got the sense that they had conversational tools they could use to help unsure parents to see the wisdom in getting the HPV vaccine, which I was glad to see on the behalf of other people’s teens.
We do, and usually when I bring up oral and anal cancers, their eyes glaze over, but genital warts gets their attention and they start paying very close attention! Having great ugly growths on your pecker is apparently sufficient to make the shot worth it.
Since she wasn’t interviewed from a jail cell, I think the consequences are overstated.
I have to say, oral and anal cancers would have been sufficient for me. But I know I’m not a representative sample.
To all who claim that the Millennials are the worst generation ever—especially my fellow Gen-Xers—allow me to point out that it is not they who are denying their children vaccines. It is us. I am afraid we are officially the worst.
I was actually contemplating ‘click it or ticket’ campaigns for the use of seat belts. Sadly, deliberate stupidity isn’t illegal.
I recognize that quote!
There were many variants, but Google has locked the archive of news.admin.net-abuse.email until the “group owners” contact them. 
So I grabbed that one.
You have to consider your audience. Teenage boys have a VERY specific focus. When I talk to my diabetics about controlling their sugars, my first point is always “If you don’t keep good control, you will lose the ability to get it up, dude. No more fun times for you!” It’s amazing how that tends to focus their attention.
Whatever works!
Hardly antiquated thinking… it’s pretty newish rejection of vaccinations by people who didn’t have to grow up with the diseases their parents and grandparents did, not understanding that vaccines did the work they were meant to do… it’s a bunch of middle class white liberals (mostly) wanting to be rebellious by buying into a bunch of new agey sounding mumbo-jumbo.
I don’t know if his mom understand the vaccinating procedure. Syringes, not slaps, and usually not in the face.
Couple of almost completely nonoverlapping populations, one leftie, holistic, “health through kale not needles” types, and the other hard right wing, “health freedom, i own my kids not the government” types. Unfortunately, ads aimed at one group tend to confirm the biases of the other. Both have decided science is not even wrong, but evil. The left points to GMOs, the right to climate change as “proof” that science is evil and should be ignored if not eradicated. It can actually get a little scary on the front lines. I have been threatened with protests at my office and occasionaly even physical harm. People who are nuts can be pretty damned unpredictable!
No ifs or buts, vaccination should be mandatory unless there is a valid medical reason why you can’t get one.
This article happened into my news feed this morning:
My four year old got vaccinated 2 days ago. She will be the first to tell you the injection didn’t hurt. But then again, my kid is weird, she got upset when her dad was at the dentist because she wanted to go instead. She gets excited when it’s time to go to the doctor. Has asked to go to an optometrist to get her eyes checked.
About a year ago I had a blood test with her sitting on my lap. She was chatting away to the lady but as soon as the needle went into my arm my little girl’s eyes went wide and she whispered, “Wow!” She got the closer and closer to the needle as the blood was drawn. When it was all done, she held out her arm and said, “My turn.”
Whoops, went a little off topic.
That is a wonderful story, but it reminds me of the son of a major white supremacist who, over many years of a patient Jewish man befriending him and gently teaching him, was able to leave the bigotry (which meant leaving his whole family and his way of life) and become a spokesperson AGAINST what he had been raised to believe.
These are heroic efforts by individuals. They don’t scale to societal levels. Plus, it is not incumbent upon individuals (often, from the group being prejudiced against) to find the time and mental energy to do this.
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