I think having laypeople who don't understand what they are actually debating on engage in these unhelpful debates, rather than seek information from people who have put in the time required to be a domain expert, does a lot more net harm to society than good.

Imagine if people were so passionate about aircraft designs as they are vaccine delivery platforms. It's ridiculous when you lay it bare like this and replace vaccine with some other piece of uncontroversial technology. "I'm not flying in an airbus. I don't trust those engineers, and my cousin says there is weird radio signals that manipulate your mind and I trust that man with my life. Those engineers voted for Clinton" Nothing about the modern world would get done if we extended this unhelpful debateism to every piece of everything that requires a lot of hours of study to fully understand. We would be stuck in our tracks citing the same talking points everyone else in our cult of ignorance chants while bridges fail and crops go barren.