The vaccine situation is somewhat different, because of the government's involvement in it. If and when there is a government mandate to have chemotherapy, we can talk about them together. Until then, it is reasonable to be more skeptical of vaccines that are required by law than of other treatments. History supports very strongly the idea that you should avoid anything the government tries to force upon you, and that evidence offered by or on behalf of the government is to be ignored.

I'm not an "anti-vaxxer", but I find nothing more abhorrent than the government dictating that something go into your body. It's the darkest of the dark, makes V For Vendetta look like rainbows and unicorns, etc. I would almost certainly believe that vaccines are overwhelmingly beneficial and that the benefits outweigh the risks for nearly everyone, if not for the government's involvement. Once the government is involved, I simply can't trust anything.

I'm pretty sure the government mandates lots of good things, as well as bad things. I could see saying that a government mandate gives you no information about whether something is good, but outright saying that you should avoid anything mandated by the government as a matter of course just sounds like a way to shut down your brain and avoid having to think for yourself.

Anyway, how is it different? You said above that it's a completely unreasonable position to think that big pharma wants to make big profits by killing us. Lots of anti-vaccine people believe precisely that, and now you're saying you don't find it unreasonable.

Well, killing people is pretty bad for business, as I explained elsewhere under this article. So I'm pretty skeptical of that motive... normally.

Once you have the government mandating that everyone buy your product, it doesn't really matter any more whether it's a good product or has good PR or is otherwise viewed as beneficial. A drugmaker selling something to the willing has an incentive to make sure it's not lethal, if for no other reason than that the most profitable business is repeat business. A drugmaker selling something the government mandates has no such incentive. This applies, actually, to anything of which purchase is mandated on threat of violence, not just drugs.