Pediatrician Takes On Anti-Vaxxers' Misconceptions With 1 Powerful Post

The vaccine debate is one that can easily turn ugly between parents, especially when discussed online. Instead of citing proven research on whether vaccines are harmful to children, some parents simply go off of fear and bash others who vaccinate their children, as well as the doctors who receive payouts from "big pharma" companies for administering what they deem to be harmful medication.

One pediatrician decided to get involved in the online dialogue to correct a major misconception that could lead to devastating consequences. Although the fact that doctors receive a kickback from pharmaceutical companies for administering vaccines is a factor in some anti-vaxxers' decisions, this doctor, Mikey, commented on the Refutations to Anti-Vaccine Memes' page on Facebook to explain it further.

Actually, we do get one. I'm a pediatrician. It's called a "Quality of Care Bonus" and it DOES NOT COME FROM BIG PHARMA. It comes from BIG INSURA. The INSURANCE companies pay us a bonus for taking good care of our patients. For pediatricians like me, that means making sure that kids have all their vaccines by a certain age.

Now, why would an INSURANCE company want to pay for me to give expensive vaccines (that they have to pay for, mind you) to a child if those vaccines were harmful? That would make no sense because the INSURANCE company would have to pay for the extra care that the child requires because of their "vaccine injuries." That would make absolutely NO SENSE.

No, the INSURANCE company has made an actuarial decision that by vaccinating my patients, I am reducing their costs by making my patients less likely to need expensive hospital stays and so the insurance company shares some of those costs with us.

Oh, and the reason for this, BTW, is the Affordable Care Act, which mandates that physicians be paid based on quality and cost savings, rather than production.

And I'm not exactly sure if I do have a price you could pay me to do something I thought was harmful to a patient, but if that price does exist, it's not a number I've ever seen. I didn't bust my ass through four years of university, four punishing years of medical school, and three dreadful years of residency . . . giving up my entire twenties to work in the lowest-paying hardest-working specialty in medicine just so I could hurt kids.