> "very intelligent and highly educated people who went to top universities"

Imagine trusting a "rocket scientist" to even weigh in on medical topics because they are "very intelligent" in their totally unrelated field. This is an unfortunate misconception that plagues conspiracy theory extremists who reference PhD graduates in their arguments against things like 5G brain control.... pointing to people with doctoral degrees in Music or something.

Look I am not saying they are right. My point is these are not your average stupid uneducated person. The two families in question, the one parent has multiple PhDs from Columbia and Princeton, the other took their undergrad at Caltech. You don't get those degrees by believing any random crazy thing that crosses your path. Plus they have a first hand experience with their child that for some reason makes them believe the vaccine was responsible. If it were any other topic their background and experience would lend their viewpoint more credence than dismissal as "nutjobs". What makes this topic different? Why would they have any incentive to blame the vaccine besides some sort of convincing first hand experience? Why should we in this one instance distrust their rational capacities that have allowed them to acquire intellectual credentials the vast majority of the earth's population don't have the capacity to acquire?

Being smart and being crazy are not mutually exclusive

I think it’s more accurate to say that intelligence is not adequate defense against trusting the wrong sources of information, and people are extremely resistant to changing their minds once they’ve placed a stake in the ground.

I'd go with both. There are plenty of smart people who i would consider delusional. Which is separate from people stuck in their views.

However, as the saying goes, science advances one funeral at a time.