Public health at risk when opinion trumps evidence

Dozens of studies and numerous reviews have demonstrated the safety of vaccines. Credit: Shutterstock

In the Trump era, we have seen dramatic reductions in dialogue on important issues of the day. We have seen attacks on the legitimacy of science. We have seen attacks on trusted news sources, derided as fake. On social media, one person’s opinion, whether expert or not, often seems to outweigh all other forms of evidence. Belief in an opinion is treated as a legitimate form of evidence. For many people today, beliefs about vaccination or breastfeeding or marijuana inform everyday important decisions that affect their health and the public’s health.

This is dangerous.

Many historical examples show that beliefs can lead us astray. At one time, most people believed that the Earth was flat and if you sailed too far west, you would fall off. To counter such beliefs, we created processes like the scientific method and more recent approaches to evidence evaluation…

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