evidence: Some of the misinformation regarding vaccines includes an argument that vaccines have not been tested against a saline placebo in a double-blinded randomized clinical trial. This misinformation is aimed at confusing the wealth of evidence regarding the safety and effectiveness of immunizations. In this blog post, we will explain what a blinded randomized clinical trial is, when this study design has been used in the development of immunizations, and why it is not used as often anymore. [...] That universe is made up of millions of people, all working every day in the trenches of public health and medicine. They know firsthand what vaccines can do for a population, and how now more than ever vaccines are safe. They also know that a randomized clinical trial for vaccines that we know work would not be ethical if it used a saline placebo that would leave a child susceptible to a deadly disease. This is why we don’t see such studies today like we did in the 1950s and 1960s. Yet we might see such studies if an HIV or malaria vaccine is developed. The misinformation talking point that there were no RCTs conducted in the testing of vaccines for safety, efficacy and effectiveness can be easily refuted just by looking back at history. There are plenty of documented trials out there... One just needs to look at reliable sources.