Doctors do not investigate if a vaccine is safe. They are told that a vaccine is safe, and they repeat that message to you. Who told them it was safe? A research or safety committee decides a vaccine is safe. If that committee gets it wrong, the doctors will also be wrong. Are professional vaccine safety officials ever wrong? Yes, they can be. Nobody is perfect. So, if these officials have made a mistake, the real question is how bad the mistake is.

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Nathan Smith is a former business journalist and columnist at the NBR. He also worked as the chief editor at the New Zealand Initiative policy think tank. He is now a freelance writer and copy editor.