Anti-Vaccination crackpots
Would you take medical advice from someone who believes Vaccines contain mind-controlling computer chips?
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Profile of a typical
Anti-Vaxxer
Anti-Vaccination lobbyists generally fall into two broad categories, although many subscribe to both ideologies:
The first are the "Conspiracy Theory" groups. They are anti-government and anti-business, believing in a raft of wacky conspiracy theories. They are typically the same people you'll see smashing windows and throwing rocks at G20 meetings and the like. Many of them believe that vaccines contain microscopic mind control chips which will be activated by digital TV broadcasts! They also believe there is a secret plan by the UN/WHO to commit genocide by killing people with vaccines, reducing the world's population by up to 95%. Several antivax sites claim there are stockpiles of coffins waiting for vaccine victims, and hundreds of concentration camps to hold the 'survivors'. Thinking like this is typical, and clearly demonstrates the insanity and paranoia common to a majority of anti-vaccination organisations.
The second are the alternative-medicine groups. The anti-vaxxers amongst the alt-medicine crowd are against the concept of modern medicine, instead choosing quackery alternatives such as Homeopathy, Natropathy, Faith Healing etc. As vaccination is a product of the traditional healthcare system, in their broken minds it must by extension be evil and dangerous. It should be noted, however, that the representative groups for Homeopathy in Australia and the UK have both recommended standard childhood vaccinations, going against their anti-vax fringe elements who advocate homeopathic prophylaxis (An apparently ineffective "homeopathic vaccination").
Both groups have a philosophical belief that vaccination is "bad" and nothing anyone can say or do will alter that belief. Because all recognised medical studies come from either government, business or higher education, they refuse to believe they could be true and will invariably ignore or ridicule any such evidence, instead pointing to 'research' conducted by like-minded groups. Such research is invariably unreviewed and unscientific (eg, telephone surveys), and easily discredited.
If you dare to publicly ridicule the anti-vaccination lobby, they typically respond with venomous personal attacks, often going so far as to issue death threats against doctors and immune experts who contradict their lies. This article brilliantly describes the attacks made on an American paediatrician after he wrote a book exposing antivaxxers' lies and deception.
Techniques the anti-vaxxers use to try to get into the mainstream media
There are three main ways that antivax groups like to spread their misinformation:
1. Complete fabrication:
As the title suggests, in this case the antivaxxers will fabricate a theory with absolutely no supporting evidence. Once one group publishes such a claim, it is quickly picked up on and re-published by other groups. Before long, the internet is flooded with the theory and anyone researching the issue will just assume it to be true, simply due to the number of references. In cases such as this, the antivaxxers will NEVER quote a reputable source for the theory (because there isn't one!). Despite widespread publication, this is the easiest method to disprove. Simply ask for a copy or a link to the peer-reviewed scientific study or trial. If the antivaxxers can't provide one, then you can almost certainly bet that the 'fact' has absolutely no basis in truth.
2. Distortion of known facts:
In this case, the antivaxxers will take legitimate information, then distort it completely and/or take it out of context in order to spread fear and doubt. This often goes hand-in-hand with exaggeration of figures.
The mercury-containing vaccine preservative Thiomersal is a prime example of this method. While it's true that some adult vaccines do contain mercury, it's in extremely small quantities. In fact, there is 16 times more mercury in a single serve of ocean fish than there is in a thiomersal-preserved vaccine. However, you would be forgiven for thinking vaccines were loaded with mercury if you believed the hype of the antivaxxers. I've even seen one site claim that vaccines were 49% mercury! (The actual figure, by the way, is about 25 millionths of a gram per adult vaccine). Despite the fact thiomersal was removed from all childhood vaccines a decade ago, many sites still claim it is present.
This method is clearly designed to deceive, because a rudimentary search may lead someone to suspect that the information is plausible, when nothing could be further from the truth.
3. Use of discredited or debunked science:
Perhaps the best example of this are the regular references the antivaxxers make to the only scientific study that has ever claimed a possible link between vaccines and autism. What they don't reveal is that this study was not only discredited, but withdrawn by it's authors after claims that results from the study had been deliberately falsified. It was discovered that the lead researcher, Dr Andrew Wakefield, had accepted a secret payment of £435,000 (A$1.5M) from lawyers who were trying to mount a class-action lawsuit against vaccine manufacturers. It was also revealed that the same lead researcher had filed a patent for an alternative measles vaccine just 7 months before releasing his study. The study was retracted by the Lancet medical journal, who described it as "fatally flawed". The remaining authors withdrew the study with a statement that said "We wish to make it clear that in this paper no causal link was established between (the) vaccine and autism".
Perhaps the best summation of the study came from Dr Richard Smith of the British Medical Journal, who said "That paper is the best example there has ever been of a very, very dodgy paper that has caused a lot of discomfort and misery".
The above is a prime example of the effectiveness that the antivaxxers can have, even when there is simply no evidence to support their claims.
Some of the groups (such as the AVN) try to portray a normal public profile, but you don't have to dig very far to find they subscribe to many of the conspiracy theories of their fellow fringe-dwelling groups.
The anti-vaccination lobby are using the 'throw enough mud and some of it will stick' theory. They figure that if they create enough lies, make them scary enough and spread them far and wide, then some people will believe that they can err on the side of caution by not vaccinating their children. In reality, they are exposing their children and their community to massively higher risks of death and permanent disability. There is absolutely no doubt that the side of caution is with vaccination, with any danger posed by the mild and rare side-effects of vaccination being massively outweighed by the often fatal consequences of not vaccinating.
I find it quite sad that these groups find it impossible to see anything good in humanity. They can't bring themselves to believe that Doctors, Scientists and Governments could ever act for the good of people, and so can't accept that vaccination could possibly be developed for good. Nothing anyone can say will change their minds, but we can help protect the sane population from their delusional ranting.
But what about "all the Doctors" who oppose vaccination?
With very few exceptions the "Doctors" who have written the various anti-vaccination articles and blogs are not medical doctors. Typically, they do not have any formal medical training at all, and have simply awarded themselves a "Dr" title in order to aid their credibility. Sometimes they have some "qualification" in alternative medicine (eg: Homeopathy). In other cases, they have a doctorate in field totally unrelated to medicine. An excellent case-in-point is that of fanatical antivaxxer Viera Scheibner. Given that she is referred to variously as "Dr Scheibner, Principle Research Scientist" or "retired Australian Government Scientist", you would be forgiven for thinking she is a medical doctor, with extensive medical qualifications. You'd be wrong. She is in fact a former employee of the NSW Department of Mineral Resources, where she was employed in her qualified field of studying fossils. As is typical of the antivax movement, the use of the "Dr" title in her anti-vaccination diatribe deceptively implies that she possesses some form of medical qualification.
The fact is that you'll almost never find a qualified medical doctor or a scientist that opposes vaccination. While there are occasional exceptions, most Doctors (GPs / M.D.s), Paediatricians, Professors and Obstetricians are very pro-vaccination, because they understand the evidence and the consequences.
If you ever do find a "Dr" in the anti-vaccination lobby, carefully check their credentials. You'll almost invariably find that their Doctorate (if they actually have one) is not in the field of medicine. Occasionally, there are former or disgraced Doctors who have been adopted by the antivax movement.
Would you entrust the lives of your children to these people?
Below are specific statements, beliefs and actions of prominent anti-vaccination campaigners. Sources are linked to in each case. Beliefs like this are very common amongst antivaxxers. Would you trust people like this to give you accurate medical advice to ensure the safety of your children from deadly diseases? I know I wouldn't.
| Who they are |
What they say, do and think |
 (ex-Dr) Rebecca Carley
A former Doctor who had her medical licence revoked in 2003 after being found by a review panel to have a mental disability and several paranoid psychotic conditions.
Despite the revocation, she still refers to herself as Dr Carley M.D. and maintains a prominent anti-vaccination and 'healing' website. Many of the mistruths of the world's antivax movement originate on her site.
Is a devastating statement, and one which brilliantly sums up the entire antivax movement, the medical tribunal which revoked Ms Carley's license said "When confronted with an inconsistant statement that [Ms Carley] had previously made, she would often change her testimony.... [She] also had a tendency to selectively use the facts.....Facts that tend to disprove her point of view are routinely omitted".
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During a supervised custody visit with her son (who had been placed in foster care), she defecated and urinated. She then smeared the excrement over herself and demanded the supervising officers clean it up. -Source
"My goal is to cause the death of medicine" -Seminar, January 2009
Claims to be able to cure every disease suffered by people or pets, including cancer without even seeing the patient. -Seminar, January 2009
"Doctors are Nazis in white coats.....Don't ever go to see a Doctor and you'll be healthy" -Seminar, January 2009
"Mamograms cause Breast Cancer" -Seminar, January 2009
Vaccines "are actually weapons of mass destruction being perpetrated upon humanity in the name of health, for the purpose of genocide and to bring in the New World Order" -Source
In the near future, people who refuse vaccination will be "hunted down, and imprisoned in concentration camps already built or be killed." -Source
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 Jane Bürgermeister
Jane alleges that she used to work for major medical publications, although there is no evidence of this.
She also alleges that she has filed criminal charges against various companies, governments and the World Health Organisation, although again no evidence can be found that any such charges have been filed.
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"...The US Government, World Health Organisation, pharmaceutical companies and the banking cartels are conspiring together to commit mass-murder through vaccinations....."They" have plans for mass murder and injury through vaccinations in addition to war and famine." - Interview by Project Camalot
"There is a plan in action to reduce the world population through contaminated vaccines" -Source
"Nazis have taken over America, and they will be infecting the military with swine flu through vaccination to test the kill rate [for the general population]" - Interview with Rebecca Carley
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| Eleanor McBean
A natropath and staunch anti-vaccination campaigner who has written many books on the topic. Showing her complete lack of understanding of the disease, she laughably claimed that Polio was caused by eating too much ice cream, amongst other equally preposterous suggestions. What is particularly disturbing is the fact she is often quoted as some sort of expert by the antivaccination lobby to this day!
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"Polio is caused by eating too many carbohydrates, ice cream, drinking cola, having one's tonsils removed and having "negative emotions that generate internal poisons." -Source |
 Meryl Dorey
President, Australian Vaccination Network
As you can see from her statements, Meryl is a closet conspiracy theorist and rabid antivaccination campaigner.
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"...the risks of marijuana are not quite as clear-cut as the risks of vaccination." -Source
Quoted David Icke (See below) on her blog. David believes that many past and present world leaders are alien lizard hybrids who are setting up the world for a takeover.
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 Viera Scheibner
A retired micropaleontologist (studier of fossils), who identifies herself as a "Doctor" and a "Principle Research Scientist". She has no medical qualifications, but writes extensively on medical matters, principally vaccination. She received the Australian Skeptics Bent Spoon Award in 1997.
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"...caregivers are accused of Shaken Baby Syndrome! Vaccinators not only kill your babies, then they throw you into prison." -Source
"...I offer a well considered personal opinion that polio is a man made disease." -Source
"The best treatment for any infectious disease is a sufficient quantity of vitamin C" -Source
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| Alahaja Yisrael
Conspiracy Theorist, Preacher and wannabe rap singer
Anti-Vaccination Campaigner.
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"Your Illuminati Control Media Didn't Say Nothing About It Nor Your Megachurch Preachers Who Where There Also. They Getting Ready For Martial Law And Mass Murder Through Your Swine Flu Vaccinations. Over 500,000 Coffins Are Sitting In Madison Georgia Awaiting For The Bodies Of You And Your Family. They Have Over 800 Concentration Camps Ready For You And Your Family."
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 Bob Sperlazzo
Former editor of the Christian Digest magazine.
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"Vaccines are a perfect manifestation of everything that is satanic. They represent an adulterous and arrogant tampering with divine creation, based on the intellectual conceit of perfecting creation"
- Christian Digest 29/11/02.
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 Lee Payne
Member of the Australian Vaccination Network.
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"What an evil bitch. May God strike her dead"
(Writing about respected Doctor Susan Garland, from the Royal Woman's Hospital in Melbourne after Dr Garland proposed adding the cervical cancer vaccine to the child immunisation schedule)
-Posted on the AVN Yahoo discussion group -Source
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| Martin Lauchenauer
Swiss anti-vaccination campaigner
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"I have contacts with people having got chip implantations and I know what they are telling in relation to "strange thoughts input" and even "pictures and films" in the brain; which are NOT HAVING THEIR ORIGIN in THEIR OWN MIND!!!!" -Source |
 David Icke
Conspiracy Theorist, Anti-Vaccination campaigner
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"...we have long crossed the line into a fully-fledged fascist dictatorship....those behind the conspiracy to cull the human population and turn the rest into little more than computer terminals..." -Source
Wrote a book in 1999 in which he claimed the British Royal Family, the Clintons, Bushes and other world leaders are actually alien lizard people, capable of shape-shifting into human form. Seriously!
These families rule the world and their goal is to cull the human population down to about 500 million. Vaccines are one method of doing this. -Source: The Biggest Secret: The Book that Will Change the World
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| Duon Miller
Heavily ridiculed for his belief that there was no such thing as germs or viruses, the cosmetics manufacturer from Florida perpetrated a long-lasting campaign against the highly effective Polio vaccine in the late 1950s and early 60s. He was prosecuted and sentenced to jail time for his untrue and derogatory statements about the vaccine inventor, Dr Salk.
Despite his obviously ridiculous theories, his 'research' is still promoted by antivaxxers to this day!
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"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A VIRUS. [It's] merely a mythical word to confuse the public....The fact that polio vaccines are sold on the "virus" myth and since there is no such thing. . . isn’t it common sense to classify this vaccine as fraudulent?" -Source
"....vaccination against small pox has been a hoax for some time ... since it is caused ONLY by the poisonous bite of the bed bug."
-Source
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Getting factual information
Don't believe the lies and craziness of the anti-vaccination lobby. There is an abundance of factual information about vaccination available from you local Doctor (GP, MD), Paediatrician, Hospital or Health Department.
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