Online anti-vaxxers, conflating Covid and MMR theories, are convincing parents against immunising their children

  •  Knusper   ( @Knusper@feddit.de ) 
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    287 months ago

    But she doesn’t know who to trust. “I’ve done some research but feel like a lot of the info on the web is pro-vaccine,” she writes.

    Really makes you wonder, why that would be the case.

    •  Auzy   ( @Auzy@beehaw.org ) 
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      27 months ago

      Only if it’s done during class unfortunately.

      Here in Australia, two of my nutjob ex friends who work for the government and required to get vaccines didn’t.

      Oh, and despite not getting them, they’re telling everyone about all the issues they’re causing in the rest of us (who are honestly perfectly healthy, including myself who took Astrozeneca)

  • This is the best summary I could come up with:


    At the same time, influencers who gained large followings during the pandemic – including those at the forefront of sowing doubt about the Covid vaccines – appear to have refocused some attention on MMR.

    The latest NHS figures show the MMR vaccine uptake is the lowest since 2010-11, with only 84.5% of children having received both doses by age five – well below the WHO recommended rate of 95%.

    Part of the problem, said Selvarajah, is that there is a “massive overhang” from the days of Andrew Wakefield, who in the late 1990s pushed the debunked theory that the MMR vaccine causes autism – leading uptake to plummet.

    In Hackney, there are particular challenges due to the makeup of the borough, which includes traditionally under-vaccinated groups, such as Orthodox Jewish and Somali communities, as well as a section of the “white middle class” who favour “more organic, holistic living and don’t believe in vaccines”.

    Instead, Selvarajah and colleagues are trialling initiatives including holding community talks and paying junior doctors to ring up the parents of unvaccinated children to more gently encourage them to come in.

    “Part of the strategy is to be really approachable and easy to access.” Facebook generally permits such discussions, only removing misinformation it thinks is “likely to directly contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm”.


    The original article contains 1,167 words, the summary contains 220 words. Saved 81%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • This is the consequence of pushing an experimental vaccine on people and telling people if they don’t take it they’ll die. People will distrust vaccines that will take years to repair and do so much damage.

    • It’s mainly the consequence of a resurgence in the Andrew Wakefield nonsense around MMR from years ago. Wakefield is, of course a charlatan who falsified data, had a commercial interest in his narrative and was subsequently struck-off.

      The mRNA vaccines for Covid-19 were indeed fast-tracked through approvals - not surprising in the a global pandemic - but were still throughly tested for their ability to reduce serious illness and were very effective. The number of people who suffered adverse affects, compared with the number of people helped is tiny.

      You’ll remember, of course that vaccines weren’t and aren’t compulsory. I was privileged to work at a vaccine hub during the first lock down - in charge of managing the queues of people who had booked in to get a jab.