We are in the middle of the largest measles outbreaks in over 25 years.
Measles cases and deaths are on the rise all over the world.
Much of that rise, especially in the developed world, is because parents believe the misinformation that the vocal anti-vax folks are pushing.
Why Is Lying About Vaccines Not Criminal?
Which has to make you wonder – why is lying about vaccines and scarring parents into skipping or delaying vaccines not criminal?
For example, take the above Instagram post by Robert F Kennedy, Jr.
His claim that the “guidelines stipulate that a child would need to experience anaphylactic shock — a life threatening reaction — to EVERY vaccine-requiring eight near death experiences — to qualify for an exemption” simply isn’t true.
If a child had a severe allergic reaction, anaphylaxis, to a previous dose of any vaccine or to a vaccine component, then they would get an medical exemption to that vaccine. They could also easily get a medical exemption to all other vaccines that used those same components, such as gelatin, eggs, or yeast, etc.
It is silly to think that you would have to have an anaphylactic reaction to each and every vaccine, as Kennedy claims, to get a medical exemption to getting vaccinated.
Did the CDC publish new guidelines in 2019 changing what is considered to be a contraindication, another Kennedy claim?
Nope.
And the thing is, these things are incorrectly perceived as contraindications or precautions to vaccination because they are not a problem with vaccination!
You would have to be a sociopath to put kids at risk for a vaccine-preventable disease for no good reason!
For example, why skip the HPV vaccine just because a child is already infection with HPV? Are they infected with all of the strains of HPV that the vaccine protects against? There is no extra risk of cervical cancer from the vaccine if you are already infected, just the fact that you might get cervical cancer because you were already infected before you got protected from the vaccine!
Why is it not homicide to scare someone away from getting vaccinated and protected with a vaccine that prevents cancer by spreading this type of misinformation?
Why is lying about vaccines not criminal?
More on Why Is Lying About Vaccines Not Criminal?
- Why Is RFK, Jr Pimping out the Kennedy Compound to Anti-Vaxxers?
- What Happens If You Get Gardasil and Already Have HPV?
- I’m Not Anti-Vaccine, I Just Don’t Believe in the HPV Vaccine
- What is the risk of anaphylaxis after vaccination in children and adults?
- Autoimmunity as a Contraindication to Getting Vaccinated
- Don’t Skip Your Baby’s Hepatitis B Shot
- Ask 8 Questions Before You Skip a Vaccine
- WHO – Vaccine Anaphylaxis Information
- Adverse reactions to vaccines practice parameter 2012 update
- ACIP – Preventing and Managing Adverse Reactions
- CDC – Possible Side-effects from Vaccines
- RFK Jr.: So antivaccine that even his family calls him out on it
- No, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is NOT a “vaccine skeptic.” He is antivaccine. So is Donald Trump.
- Robert Kennedy’s Dangerous Anti-Vaccine Activism
- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and his World Mercury Project: Antivaccine, NOT “fiercely pro-vaccine”
- More Anti-Vaccine Nonsense from Trump and Kennedy
- CDC vaccine patents – Robert F Kennedy Jr gets this one wrong too
- Lying About Vaccines
- Mr. Kennedy, if you know the science, why did you claim that the MMR vaccine contains mercury?
- Salon retracts Robert Kennedy’s “Deadly Immunity”
- Why Does Robert F . Kennedy Jr . Get Brain Science So Wrong?
- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.: Still an antivaccine crank after all these years