Have you heard that the FDA and CDC tell people to exaggerate disease statistics, especially morbidity and mortality statistics of vaccine-preventable diseases?
Why would they do that?
Anti-vaccine folks think that they do it to scare folks into getting vaccinated and protected. While it’s just anti-vaccine propaganda, this is actually one anti-vaccine myth that I wish were true, because then it might mean that 185 kids didn’t die in last year’s flu season.
Do the FDA and CDC Tell People to Exaggerate Disease Statistics?
Of course, it’s not true.
The CDC does provide training material to help get more people vaccinated and protected, but they have never say to lie about or exaggerate disease statistics.
The purpose of these training materials is to reinforce that it is very important to educate people about the dangers of getting the flu, but that it is also very important to not go too far and scare them.
But don’t you have to exaggerate things to get people concerned enough to get vaccinated?
Uh, not if you understand what happens in a typical flu season, and definitely not if you understand what can happen in a very severe flu season.
Do you know how many kids, mostly unvaccinated and many otherwise healthy, die during a typical flu season. If you did, and you understood that the flu vaccines are safe, then you wouldn’t think of skipping it.
Problems arise because people get mixed messages from anti-vaccine folks, who tell them that flu vaccines are dangerous and that they can stay healthy and keep the flu away by taking elderberry syrup each day. Or that they can cure their flu symptoms with some Oscillococcinum.
They can’t and it won’t.
Get your family vaccinated and protected against the flu.
There’s no playbook that experts are using to try and trick you into getting vaccinated. Just folks trying to increase awareness, so that everyone understands that vaccines are safe and necessary, and they ignore anti-vaccine propaganda.
More on Promoting Vaccines
- VAXOPEDIA – I Refuse to Listen to Bad Advice About Flu Shots, and I Won’t Apologize for It
- VAXOPEDIA – Why Do Some Folks Wear a Mask During Flu Season?
- VAXOPEDIA – Three Reasons to Skip a Flu Shot This Year
- VAXOPEDIA – Do They Really Just Guess at Which Strain to Put in the Flu Vaccine
- VAXOPEDIA – Can Flu Shots Cause the Flu?
- VAXOPEDIA – What to Do If Your Child Is Exposed to the Flu
- VAXOPEDIA – How Does a Mother’s Flu Shot Protect a Newborn Baby?
- VAXOPEDIA – Does the FluMist Vaccine Shed?
- VAXOPEDIA – What Are the Benefits of the Flu Shot?
- Increasing Awareness and Uptake of Influenza Immunization
- Study – Promoting influenza vaccination: Insights from a qualitative meta-analysis of 14 years of influenza-related communications research by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- CDC – Make It Your Business To Fight The Flu
- CDC – Digital Media Toolkit: 2018-19 Flu Season
- CDC – National Influenza Vaccination Week
- United Against the Flu
- WHO – Communication Strategies for Increasing National Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Usage
- More people getting flu vaccine this year