The Anti-Vaxx Movement Is More Organized and Powerful Than Ever (Thanks to Robert F. Kennedy Jr)
Experts say the anti-vaccine or vaccine choice groups, as they commonly refer to themselves, are becoming larger, better organized and funded in part because their prolific use of social media, as well as the rise of a group founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. which has helped to coordinate their efforts to push back on new laws.
“Social media has given it a national presence. It’s no longer just a collection of different states, it’s now gone across the country,” said Dr. Peter Hotez, a vaccine researcher and pediatrician. “Right now you might call it a media empire—you have almost 500 anti-vaccine websites.”
The campaign has not just been online or in the statehouses, either. On Feb. 22, 2019, Kennedy’s group, Children’s Health Defense, posted a call to action on its site to get activists to show up on Capitol Hill for a set of vaccine-related hearings.“We absolutely must have representation at these hearings,” the post said. “It’s crucial that we have as many parents and advocates as possible in attendance at both.”
The call to action was co-signed by over 50 like-minded, mostly state-based groups. Activists who attended the Feb. 27 hearing on the recent measles outbreaks could be heard jeering loudly when both Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, stated the measles vaccine was safe and rarely caused complications like brain swelling.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-anti-vaxxer-movement-is-getting-more-organized-and-powerful-than-ever-before
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