We know that there will always be some folks who won’t vaccinate their kids.

“Although many may characterize all individuals who eschew vaccines as “anti-vaccine” or “vaccine deniers,” in reality, there is a broad spectrum of individuals who choose not to have themselves or their children vaccinated.”

Tara C Smith on Vaccine Rejection and Hesitancy: A Review and Call to Action 

Who are these people?

Who’s Who in the Anti-Vaccine Movement – 2019 Edition

We used to conveniently call them anti-vaccine, but that doesn’t really work.

Well, it still does, as long as you understand who you are talking about.

The thing is, the folks who don’t vaccinate their kids exist on a spectrum, from those who just need a little extra reassurance (the worrieds) or a lot of extra reassurance (parents who are on the fence or vaccine-hesitant), to vaccine refusers (will likely vaccinate during an outbreak, etc.) and deniers who likely aren’t vaccinating their kids in any circumstance and who might try to persuade others to avoid vaccines too – the vocal vaccine deniers.

So you don’t really want to bunch them all up one big anti-vaccine group, especially when you are typically talking about the vocal vaccine deniers, many of whom believe that they have a child who was injured or damaged by a vaccine.

We are still missing some folks though…

No, I’m not talking about those who like to claim that they are pro-safe vaccines, pro-choice vaccines, or vaccine skeptics, just because they don’t want to be labeled as being anti-vaccine.

We need to talk about the:

• celebrity vocal vaccine deniers – from Cindy Crawford and Lisa Bonet to Jenny McCarthy
• media who promote myths and fake controversies about vaccines and have used false balance in their interviews and articles to scare parents – Phil Donahue, Oprah, Katie Couric, Larry King, Sharyl Attkisson
• pandering pediatricians who continue to push so-called alternative non-standard, parent-selected, delayed protection vaccine schedules and have even started selling inappropriate vaccine exemptions
• anti-vaccine social media influencers on Facebook and YouTube
• anti-vaccine profiteers who have learned to make money scaring parents and getting them to buy anti-vaccine books on Amazon, watch anti-vaccine videos, sell supplements, and “attend” their online seminars (they make money through affiliate programs)
• so-called autism advocates, who push unproven and sometimes dangerous therapies and talk about cures, all of the while talking about vaccine injury and damage
• politicians who are trying to make it even easier for kids to get vaccine exemptions and use anti-vaccine messaging to make it seem like a good idea
• anti-vaccine researchers who are funded by anti-vaccine organizations and can only get their papers published in pay-to-publish journals

These are the folks who push misinformation about vaccines that scares parents away from vaccinating and protecting their kids.

Do you know who I’m talking about it? Have you noticed that these folks never seem to face any consequences?

Who else do we need to talk about?

I remember speaking with my mother about vaccines, and at one point in our discussion, she claimed a link existed between vaccines and autism. In response, I presented evidence from the CDC which claimed directly in large bold letters, “There is no link between vaccines and autism.” Within the same article from the CDC on their official website, extensive evidence and studies from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) were cited. Most would assume when confronted with such strong proof, there would be serious consideration that your views are incorrect. This was not the case for my mother, as her only response was, “that’s what they want you to think.”

Ethan Lindenberger

There are also the folks who are pushing an anti-science agenda, making you think that mainstream doctors are bad and that anything holistic and natural must be good. Until the damage these folks are doing is seriously addressed, it won’t matter if we get a few anti-vaccine folks off of Amazon, Facebook and Pinterest.

Learn to be more skeptical. Do real research. Vaccinate your kids.

More on Who’s Who in the Anti-Vaccine Movement – 2019 Edition

• Jenny McCarthy’s Autism Charity Has Helped Its Board Members Make Money Off Dangerous, Discredited Ideas
• How Amazon’s Algorithms Curated a Dystopian Bookstore
• Facebook Vows To Quash Anti-Vaccine Misinformation
• One Doctor Is Responsible for a Third of All Medical Vaccine Exemptions in San Diego
• VAXOPEDIA – Who’s Who in the Anti-Vaccine Movement
• VAXOPEDIA – Ask 8 Questions Before You Skip a Vaccine
• VAXOPEDIA – False Balance About Vaccines at the Chicago Tribune
• VAXOPEDIA – Preparing for a Public Debate About Vaccines
• VAXOPEDIA – What Are the Greatest Tricks Anti-Vaccine Folks Use to Persuade Parents to Skip Vaccines?
• VAXOPEDIA – The Science Behind the Anti-Vaccine Movement
• VAXOPEDIA – Who Is Chris Exley?
• VAXOPEDIA – Money and Motivation of the Anti-Vaccine Movement
• VAXOPEDIA – Retracted Anti-Vaccine Studies
• VAXOPEDIA – Who is Dr. Yehuda Shoenfeld
• VAXOPEDIA – Who is Stephanie Seneff?
• VAXOPEDIA – What is the Children’s Medical Safety Research Institute?
• VAXOPEDIA – Who is Larry Cook?
• VAXOPEDIA – Who Is Brandy Vaughan?
• VAXOPEDIA – DAN! Doctors
• VAXOPEDIA – Six Degrees of Anti-Vaccine Separation
• VAXOPEDIA – Why Aren’t Vaccines Mentioned in the Bible?
• VAXOPEDIA – Jenny McCarthy and Vaccines
• VAXOPEDIA – How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Hurts Autistic Families
• VAXOPEDIA – Worst of the Anti-Vaccine Movement
• VAXOPEDIA – 100 Myths About Vaccines
• VAXOPEDIA – 50 Ways to Get Educated About Vaccines
• VAXOPEDIA – Anti-Vaccine Points Refuted A Thousand Times
• 5 Types of Vaccine-Hesitant Parents
• Cashing In On Fear: The Danger of Dr. Sears
• The Problem With Dr Bob’s Alternative Vaccine Schedule
• The difference between being antivaccine and “pro-safe vaccine,” explained using J.B. Handley
• Vaccine skeptics – let’s be clear, they are really science deniers
• A Snapshot of the Deep Pockets of the Anti-Vaccine Movement
  
• Here’s the Money Behind the Anti-Vaccine Movement
  
• CNN: The money behind the vaccine skeptics
  
• Claire Dwoskin and the Children’s Medical Safety Research Institute (CMSRI)
• Gwyneth Paltrow wants to take your money. The press is helping her
• In Goop Health: An even quackier quackfest of dangerous misinformation than expected
• Natural News Banned From YouTube
• Don’t Cry Wolfe: New Age Con-Artistry and Anti-Intellectualism
• Quackademic medicine and the delusion of being “science-based”
• Anti-vaccine doctors – naming names and listing lists
• Study – Vaccine Rejection and Hesitancy: A Review and Call to Action
• Study – Addressing heterogeneous parental concerns about vaccination with a multiple-source model: a parent and educator perspective.
• Study – Immunization attitudes and beliefs among parents: beyond a dichotomous perspective.
• Study – Identifying and Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy