Tommy Tucker and Brian Deer: Anti-vaxxers…A cult or a movement?
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Anti-vaccine beliefs have been around just as long as vaccines themselves. However, it wasn’t until the 1970s, 80s, and 90s that it became a broader political issue.
It’s a fascinating subject because vaccines continue to evolve to meet the needs of the time, meaning the discussion is continuously refreshing itself. For example, COVID-19 forced everything to rethink or reaffirm their position on the vaccines, mandates, and whether or not they are effective and can be trusted.
There’s hardly anything else out there met with greater skepticism. But why is this?
Turns out, part of the reason is that there’ve been people pushing misinformation about vaccines both for the sake of political motivation and for profit.
Of course, everyone should approach their personal health choices with plenty of research and questioning. But the intense stance taken toward vaccines seems to be a bit different. Part of this is because the anti-vax movement often has figures leading the charge
Right now, prominent political figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health, are the face of modern vaccine skepticism. RFK’s made some startling comments, such as questioning the polio vaccine.
I wanted to dig a little deeper into some of the other figures who’ve led and fashioned the anti-vaccine mindset over the years. To do this, I interviewed an investigative journalist for the Sunday Times, Brian Deer. He published a book in 2020 titled The Doctor Who Fooled the World: Andrew Wakefield’s War on Vaccines.
It’s a scintillating expose on who he calls, “The father of the anti-vaccine movement.”
Deer explains that in the 90s, “He hired a doctor to London hospital to perform research. Then he published a scholarly paper in a medical journal, a report that monitored just 12 children. What he basically did was rig the whole thing. He found people to be complainants against the vaccine and made up a connection between vaccine and autism…Later I began an investigation for the Sunday Times of London. We discovered the ugly truth behind it: The whole thing was rigged.”
Turns out that Wakefield’s paper, the one that sparked the now widespread belief that vaccines cause autism, was retracted by the journal that published it.
Deer explains the fascinating story in depth, as well as other anti-vax scares and how the COVID pandemic contributed to the continuing story of America’s complicated relationship with vaccinations.
Content retrieved from: https://www.audacy.com/wwl/news/local/anti-vaxxersa-cult-or-a-movement.
