@ct_bergstrom Banning vaccines and removing vaccine mandates are very different things though, and what Trump is quoted as pushing for is the latter. (I'm not that well caught up on US politics, so maybe he is pushing for both)

Being against mandates in schools I think is a reasonable position, even if you favour the vaccines.

@edvin @ct_bergstrom >> Being against mandates in schools I think is a reasonable position

No, it’s not, and if you knew the first thing about how vaccines work or why the rate of vaccine uptake in America has been so high the past few decades, you’d know why.

Being against vaccination requirements for public schools is just anti-vax with extra steps

@MisuseCase @ct_bergstrom Are you talking about the ones for covid or vaccines in general? For a sterilizing vaccine that might create herd immunity I can at least see your point, but mandating the use of a shot that is at best prophylactic against a rapidly evolving pathogen that most people have already been exposed to multiple times, in a young and healthy population where it has little hope slowing the spread... It's not the same.

Again, I'm not against people taking them if they want to, just the mandates. I've taken lots of vaccines, I will likely take many more and I encourage others to do the same. I know a few things about vaccines, but if what you say is indeed so obvious I must have missed the first, as you suggest.

Do you really think opposing the mandate of a particular vaccine places me in the same box as someone who opposes vaccines altogether? I know people who are for the covid shots and have taken many themselves, but are still against mandates. What would you make of them?

@MisuseCase @ct_bergstrom
>> why the rate of vaccine uptake in America has been so high the past few decades
Again: Are we talking vaccines in general or the covid ones? For vaccines in general I don't know more about the uptake or the reasons for it being high or low in the US any more than I would expect you to know about a random European country. For the covid ones the percentage of the US population who have taken at least two doses isn't particularly high (69 % according to https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations).

If you think a person who promote the use of any vaccine but even questions mandates for one of them is an antivaxxer (which is how I read what you said, correct me if I'm wrong!) I really don't know how to respond to that.

Just to give you some context about where I'm coming from, I don't know anyone here in Sweden advocating for giving covid shots to kids, even the few who want to mandate it for adults. Right before Omicron there was some support for restrictions for unvaccinated adults, not mandates, but after it was clear herd immunity was out of the question even with 100 % vaccination rate and everyone had been through a few infections even the support for restrictions largely evaporated.

I'm not interacting with Americans often, so the position you all seem to share struck me as a bit curious, that's all. I didn't realise what I said would be THAT controversial.

@MisuseCase @ct_bergstrom Ok. Thanks for explaining. Viewing people in that way must be really exhausting. Even if i now think you won't believe me I still feel the need to assure you you are wrong. My girlfriend is literally out getting vaccinated right now, as I'm writing this, and I'm fully supporting that. I will probably renew at least one of my vaccinations this fall. If I had children I'd have them vaccinated.

I'm not even sure exactly why I feel a need to convince you I like vaccines. I guess it's always unpleasant when someone seems disgusted by you, and even more so when you don't think it's justified. If you want so badly to dislike me I'm sure there are plenty of beliefs that I actually hold that you could demonise me over, but this just strikes me as unfair.

@MisuseCase @ct_bergstrom You didn't. I guess that's a risk you take when you show disdain for people you know nothing about and insist they have ulterior motives.

You have not changed my opinion, I still agree with you that vaccines are a good thing even though you make me want to disagree with you. To anyone else reading this, this might be a good conversation to cite as an example whenever someone laments how polarising social media is and wonders why.