In 1721, someone through a bomb through the window of the Reverend Cotton Mather’s house in Boston because he was actively promoted smallpox inoculation during a local epidemic.

Do we have to be concerned about what the modern anti-vaccine movement might do to folks who advocate for vaccines?

The Vaccine Extremists in the Modern Anti-Vaccine Movement

Before you dismiss the idea, let’s take a look at what they have been doing recently…

Calling for second amendment remedies? Is that a thing in the modern anti-vaccine movement?

“Then I can imagine those same conversations were happening in Nazi Germany amongst the Jewish people. Let’s not talk about it. I don’t want to bring it into my reality. It’s still 20 miles away. I’m still allowed in this theater and not that one. All I have to get is this little star. All I have to do is sign this little thing saying I accept that… that I’m not going to vaccinate because I think that they’re dangerous. And they are dangerous. I’m just going to sign this paper. I’m going to let them put me on a log.

At some point, we have gone too far.

Do you think that it’s a good idea to let the government own your baby’s body. And right behind it, your body. That is the end. To me.

Anyone who believes in the right to bear arms. To stand up against your government. I don’t know what you were saving that gun for then. I don’t know when you planned on using it if they were going to take control of your own body away.

It’s now. Now’s the time.”

Del Bigtree

To many of us, it seems very obvious that anti-vax folks have gone too far.

They don’t seem to get the message though.

Protesting for a good cause is noble.

But what is it called when you are protesting while holding signs pushing propaganda and misinformation?

Remember when a protestor in California threw blood from a menstrual cup at legislators on the Senate floor?

Pretty extreme, right?

Or when Austin Bennett assaulted Senator Richard Pan as he walked to lunch?

Of course, the usual response from most anti-vax folks is that these are outliers who don’t represent them. Or they are part of the controlled opposition…

Not surprisingly, it seems that the denials come from the same folks who set out to ambush, stalk, and attack vaccine advocates.

Advocates who have done nothing except make sure kids get vaccinated and help protect us from the misinformation that is so often pushed on the Internet and on the signs they hold during their protests.

Yes, Senator Richard Pan, a pediatrician in California has been a big target in recent years.

He is not the only one though.

Paul Offit has been a common target.

Other pediatricians have also been attacked, with protestors showing up at their offices and harassing their patients.

But it is not just pediatricians and legislators who are getting harassed.

Celebrities who advocate for vaccines are also getting harassed and targeted.

As bad as this kind of harassment has been though, their messaging might be worse.

Comparing not wanting to vaccinate and protect your kids to the civil rights movement?

That’s pretty extreme, isn’t it?

And you know you are in extreme territory if you are getting called out by the Auschwitz Museum…

What else have they been up to?

Defacing public property.

But do you want to know what maybe the very worst thing that they are doing these days?

How about harassing parents whose children have recently died, trying to make them think that vaccinations were the cause?

Yes, this is the modern anti-vaccine movement.

It should be clear that the anti-vaccine movement has “shifted its tactics” as they continue to try and scare parents away from vaccinating and protecting their kids.

“Upon close inspection, the anti-vaccination movement is not about vaccines. It’s an anti-government conspiracy theory. In order to believe the anti-vaccination line, you have to believe the government is working proactively to harm your children (by protecting them from deadly and debilitating diseases). It’s paranoid thinking, and a very small but vocal minority of Americans fervently embrace the irrational fear of immunization.”

The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board on Activism or Terrorism? Anti-vaccine movement must use facts, not violence, to argue

From getting doctors to write unnecessary medical exemptions, misusing religious exemptions, harassing vaccine advocates, targeting minority communities, using racist attacks, and pushing misinformation and conspiracy theories, many in the anti-vaccine movement have clearly moved into extremist territory.

Still, it is very important to remember that these folks are indeed a very small minority, even if they are very vocal and sometimes hard to ignore, especially as they trigger some of the largest outbreaks in recent history and expose high risk kids and adults to life-threatening vaccine-preventable diseases.

And that’s because the great majority of people understand that vaccines are safe, with few risks, and very necessary.

Make the right choice. Vaccinate and protect your family.

More on the Vaccine Extremists in the Modern Anti-Vaccine Movement

• How an Anti-Vaccine Safety Handbook Has Caused the Longest Measles Outbreak in Recent History
• How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Hurts Autistic Families
• Why Is Lying About Vaccines Not Criminal?
• Guess Who Thinks Vaccines Are Connected to Mass Shootings?
• Learn the Risks of Following Bad Advice
• How Can the Unvaccinated Spread Diseases They Don’t Have?
• Healthy Kids Can Just Die
• The Fatal Flaw in the Anti-Vaccine Movement
• What Are the Greatest Tricks Anti-Vaccine Folks Use to Persuade Parents to Skip Vaccines?
• More Questions to Help You Become a Vaccine Skeptic
• Vaccines Don’t Cause Autism, But That’s Not The Point. Stop Being Ableist.
• Activism or Terrorism? Anti-vaccine movement must use facts, not violence, to argue
• A Message from Dr. Richard Pan about Yesterday’s Violence
• Grieving parents speak out against anti-vaccination extremists
• Del Bigtree crosses the line: tells Vaxxed audience “Now’s the time” for guns.
• Del Bigtree, just admit your mistake and apologize.
• Shots Heard: When the antivaccine movement swarms and harasses on social media, what can we do?
• When It’s Not a Choice: Measles and Leukemia
• I was Duped by the Anti-Vaccine Movement
• Anti-vaccine protester threw human blood in menstrual cup, California Senate confirms
• Bob Sears’ personal attacks on Paul Offit – anti-vaccine evidence
• US anti-vaccination leaders incite more threats against Dr Paul Offit
• From Cyber Space Opinion Leaders and the Diffusion of Anti-vaccine Extremism to Physical Space Disease Outbreaks
• Outbreaks among Somali immigrants in Minnesota: Thanks for the measles again, Andy
• Anti-vaccine leaders targeting minority becomes growing concern at NYC forum
• The Danger of Celebrity Health Advice (w/Dr. Paul Offit)
• Vaccine Drama On Display In California’s Capitol
• Beware the violent antis – Lismore Mayor physically assaulted – updated
• Hey, my fellow pro-vax warriors, death threats are NEVER acceptable, mmmkay? Knock it off!
• The violent rhetoric of the antivaccine movement
• The violent rhetoric of the antivaccine movement, VAXXED edition
• The violent rhetoric of the antivaccine movement intensifies
• Anti-vaccine racist threats against Richard Pan because racism
• Anti-vaccine terrorists – maybe it is the time to call them that
• Anti-vaccine religion – hateful attacks on Dorit Rubinstein Reiss and others
• Anti-vaccine activists have doctors ‘terrorized into silence’ with online harassment
• 7 Ways Anti-Vaxxers Are Worse than You Ever Could Have Imagined
• Anti-Vaxxers Are Cozying Up to the Far Right Online
• Best Practice Guidance on How to Respond to Vocal Vaccine Deniers