Sorry, can’t find any better sources for this.
The animator then asked Maher what the “downside” of “getting a vaccine” was, which caused the comedian to go on an anti-vax tirade.
“The fact that you the fact that you don’t even have a clue what’s the cost of getting a vaccine that you don’t know the answer to that. You completely want to shut your eyes to the fact that there are repercussions to all medical interventions, including a vaccine, all vaccines,” he ranted. “They come, they say side effects, just like every medication does. You can see it in the literature. They can’t write it on their back on the vaccine. So you have to dig them. And of course, there is a vaccine court because so many people have been injured.”
Absolutely. My concern is that it is often treated as an individualist problem (if you don’t want to get sick then getting vaccinated is your responsibility) when disease spread is a more complex problem (vaccines have variable effects by individuals and exposure risks rise as fewer people are vaccinated).
Vaccination cannot be left to personal conviction. It has to come as a form of general public policy. And, as a result, it has to be publicly researched, funded, and distributed, rather than left to the whims of individuals.