Bill Maher on Vaccines

Bill Maher is well known for his anti-vaccine views.

On his own show, Real Time with Bill Maher, and when appearing on other shows, he has said that:

• A flu shot is the worst thing you can do. (Larry King Live)
• I don’t believe in vaccination either.
• Measles is not really that deadly a disease.
• I don’t understand why this is controversial? Why we have this emotional debate about something that—there is science there. It astounds me that liberals, who are always suspicious of corporations… and defending minorities, somehow when it comes to this minority that’s hurt, it’s like, ‘You know what? Shut the fuck up and let me take every vaccine that Merck wants to shove down my throat.’
• I’ve never argued that vaccines don’t work. I just don’t think you need them… (Playboy interview)

Although he often says that he is not anti-vaccine, it is easy to see that Maher is hitting many classic anti-vaccine talking points, including that vaccine-preventable diseases aren’t that bad (they can be,  in fact, deadly), that vaccines injuries aren’t rare, and that vaccines aren’t necessary.

Maher also rejects the germ theory of disease that was first proposed by Louis Pasteur.

And in responding to critics of his views on vaccines, Bill Maher had this to say:

Now, sometimes its OK to fuck with nature — I believe “intelligent design” is often anything but intelligent; that “God’s perfect universe” is actually full of fuck ups and design flaws, like cleft lips and Down Syndrome — so correcting nature is sometimes the right thing to do. And then, sometimes its not. For me, the flu shot is in the “not” category.

As much as I dislike the high profile platform that he has to push his anti-vaccine views, the way he characterizes Down syndrome actually bothers me much more.

And that wasn’t even the only time he got into trouble talking about children with Down syndrome. In 2013, the National Down Syndrome Society and many others expressed their “deep disappointment and concern with your ongoing attacks on people who have Down syndrome.”

For More Information on Bill Maher:

• “Oh, come on, Superman!”: Bill Maher versus “Western medicine”
• Bill Maher: Still an antivaccine crank after all these years
• Bill Maher flames out in a pyre of stupidity over vaccines–again
• Bill Maher doubles down on his antivaccine misinformation…again
• Bill Maher is an astonishingly anti-science anti-vax crank
• Some Muddled Thinking from Bill Maher
• Bill Maher: Anti-Vaxxer? The ‘Real Time’ Host Sides with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. During Bizarre Interview
• Bill Maher: ‘I’ve never argued that vaccines don’t work. I just don’t think you need them.’
• An Open Letter to Bill Maher on Vaccinations
• Response to Bill Maher – National Down Syndrome Society
• #247: Bill Maher