We all know teenagers and youngsters who answer every statement with “I know”. \u00a0Be careful in the street “I know”. \u00a0Algebra is good for you. \u00a0Don’t eat too much. \u00a0Let’s get up extra early to tackle this job tomorrow, “I know”.<\/p>\n

And as we get older and wiser and find that there are things we don’t know. \u00a0Well, no. \u00a0That doesn’t happen. \u00a0We learn a little and incorporate that little we have learned into the things we already know. \u00a0Vaccines are good. \u00a0Electric cars will save the environment. \u00a0Guns kill people. \u00a0Healthcare is expensive. \u00a0Trump is an asshole. \u00a0Chemtrails only exist as a false example of a conspiracy theory.<\/p>\n

There are two or more sides to every issue. \u00a0Although we all know, to take the first example, vaccines have saved an estimated millions of people, wiped out an entire deadly disease from the planet, saved countless people from pain and suffering… \u00a0But what is the other side?<\/p>\n

If we are fair we have to consider there is another side. \u00a0There are people who do not take vaccines. \u00a0And if we read about these people it is generally to scorn or ridicule them with the straw arguments, telling ourselves that they say there is a correlation of vaccines to autism or mercury poisoning…. \u00a0We don’t even allow ourselves to investigate because it is just stupid. \u00a0Every doctor and every newspaper tells us vaccines are good, so take every vaccine your doctor says to take without investigating.<\/p>\n

So what happens now, if I say something bad about vaccines? \u00a0Will you stop reading? \u00a0Will you investigate? \u00a0Have I already lost you. you already think you know what I am going to say? \u00a0All of the above?<\/p>\n

I will say each vaccine is different, with different risks and you should study and understand for yourself every medicine you take. \u00a0That statement was uncontroversial and every doctor in the world would agree. \u00a0That said, let’s investigate a vaccine or two.<\/p>\n

My favorite to investigate is\u00a0\u00a0Zostavax,<\/b>\u00a0recommended\u00a0for adults age 60 and older, whether they’ve already had shingles or not. Read the labeling and it is 51% effective in preventing shingles. \u00a0Well, I am sold. \u00a0I may as well take it, insurance pays for it ($200 or more, but nothing out of pocket). \u00a0And in three or four months I get shingles.<\/p>\n

That is when I investigated. \u00a0Yes shingles is a serious side effect of the shingles vaccine. \u00a0I did not know that. \u00a0Only happens, according to the literature, in 1% of cases. \u00a0So I look into the numbers again. \u00a051% effective, it says. \u00a0Several very large studies have confirmed a 51 to 55% drop in the incidence of shingles in the control group versus the vaccinated group.<\/p>\n

But consider the fact that you have a 33% chance of getting shingles in your lifetime, and the drop in incidence is a drop of approximately 2.5% chance of getting shingles to a 1.3% chance of getting shingles, which is the 51% effective ratio. \u00a0And remember, you have a well established 1% change of serious side effects, including getting shingles and blindness.<\/p>\n

So the whole truth is not the simple truth. Vaccines can be good, but read the fine print. \u00a0If you do the math, the shingles vaccines has a 1 in 174 chance of actually helping you by stopping you from getting shingles, and a 1 in 100 chance of giving you serious problems.<\/p>\n

Shall I talk about another vaccine, say the Lyme Disease vaccine? \u00a0Or shall I move on to another controversial issue?<\/p>\n

The point is that in place of making straw arguments to pat yourself on the back for how you found the other side to be sooooo stupid, look for real arguments. \u00a0Play the devil’s advocate. \u00a0It is the only way to learn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all know teenagers and youngsters who answer every statement with “I know”. \u00a0Be careful in the street “I know”. \u00a0Algebra is good for you. \u00a0Don’t eat too much. \u00a0Let’s get up extra early to tackle this job tomorrow, “I know”. And as we get older and wiser and find that there are things we … Continue reading Learning = Playing Devil’s Advocate<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rantings"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8FSV9-76","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":442,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440\/revisions\/442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.simplifyandrepeal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}