Actress Jessica Biel, who grew from a tween to a Maxim cover girl on the family drama 7th Heaven, and has since put together a respectable television and movie career (and married Justin Timberlake to form a Hollywood power couple), found herself in the midst of quite a kerfuffle when she aligned herself with anti-vaccination nut bar Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Public outcry was swift and substantial, prompting Biel to, um, clarify her position on the matter.
Biel’s explanation apparently reflects a growing trend among the antivaxx crowd: to restate their opposition as one against mandatory vaccinations, rather than about (utterly unsupported) assertions that vaccinations can cause autism. Considered on its own, this shift is a bit of an oddity, because the folks who seem to squawk the loudest about the perils of vaccinating are so often also big-government leftists/progressives, who have no problems with all sorts of other forms of coercion. There’s some clarity to be found, however, within the context of the evolving zeitgeist.
Measles outbreaks are being reported all over the US, particularly in communities where vaccinations are shunned, for various reasons (not all of them having to do with spurious connections to autism). This smack-in-the-face reality has induced introspection even among the traditionally anti-coercive, including (some) libertarians. The libertarian position on vaccinations varies more than you might think, and I find the libertarian case for mandatory vaccinations, based on the clean hands doctrine, to be compelling.
What’s interesting about the Jessica Biel ado isn’t the nuance of doctrine or policy, however, but rather the societal pushback. It may very well signal the beginning of a shift in public attitudes towards anti-vaxxers from “oddity” and “maybe there’s something there” to hostility and “danger.”
This would be a Good Thing. To reiterate, there’s no science that supports any of the anti-vaxxers’ assertions, and mountains to refute them. Additionally, the excuse that “I don’t have to vaccinate my kid because of herd immunity” is being refuted by the re-emergence of diseases that we had all but wiped out from most societies.
Fact is, a whole lot of people are, when all the posturing, veils, and facades are removed, self-absorbed, chicken-shit, and crisis-prone. When something is of mere academic interest and far-removed from their immediate orbit, they are all too happy to hop on board trendy bandwagons. But, when something fear-inducing gob-smacks them, the lizard brain takes over, and the postures get thrown out the door (this, sadly, also holds true for things that are perceived to be far greater threats than they actually are (see: domestic terrorism, illegal immigrants carrying Ebola and plague, airplane crashes), but the improbabilities outweigh the lizard-fear in far too few people).
It’s unfortunate, to grossly understate it, that it took people actually getting sick from vaccine-preventable diseases to (possibly) turn the public against the anti-vaxx movement. But, better late than never, and if this is indeed an inflection point in cultural attitudes, it should be celebrated.
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I see your point on Illegal immigration being a lesser threat than it is made out to be, as are anchor babies (really too few too matter)
But I have to wonder if the border crossers aren’t in someway responsible for the rise in Measles cases. If they were to come over in a orderly fashion I’m sure one of the steps would be vaccinations.
I of course worry if my 50 year old vaccination is still good, and don’t know if I got the booster. But then again my Mom put all seven of us kids in the same room when one got the Measles and I was the only one not to get it.
In New York, the measles outbreaks are notably in the Orthodox Jewish communities, and in particular the yeshivas that have been using religious exemptions. That’s a matter apart from the illegals, and a huge to-do just broke out when the legislature removed the religious exemption from the vaccination mandate for schools.
But, to the illegal problem – if there wasn’t an anti-vaxx movement in the country, those coming across the border with measles wouldn’t be passing it on to the people here.
It has been a few years but I remember another outbreak in So. Cal. maybe it there were anti-vaxers then too.
I wonder where the Measles came from that hit the Yeshivas? Real question not trying to place blame.
could Measles run wild in the immigrant communities.
There are people who are not vaccinated for legit health reasons that are endangered by the anti-vaxers and possible infected border crossers.
quite frankly in the big scheme of things this is probably a very minor thing.
Andrew Wakefield published in the 90s, so the anti-vaxx thing has been around for a couple decades.
Peter: This is the copy of the email I wrote to Fox News Channel on 5/12/19. They did not respond to any of my questions. Perhaps you will, since you take the same line of reasoning:
Dear FNC:
I watched the interview on Fox and Friends this morning of the mother who decided to vaccinate her children.
Since obviously in the case of vaccinations, the CDC and Big Pharma are only motivated to save children rather than by profits, it would be helpful if they and Fox News Channel would simply cite the research / safety studies that answer these questions. I honestly have not been able to find it:
1. Concerning the current vaccine schedule as it stands, is it safe to administer 6-9 vaccines at once during a single office visit? What happens if you administer MMR and the flu shot at the same time? What about rotavirus and polio? Are there any that are not safe to administer at the same time? Please cite the longitudinal studies.
2. Is it safe to inject babies and children with aborted fetal DNA? Where may I find the safety tests for this? (See link below for vaccine ingredients.)
3. What is the minimum and the total amount of aluminum, an ingredient in many vaccines, that is guaranteed safe for babies and children? And adults? Does it build up in the brain?
4. Are there any longitudinal studies — over a number of years rather than days/weeks on side effects of injected aluminum?
People just want the facts.
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/B/excipient-table-2.pdf?fbclid=IwAR24Adwr4icg9nTpsWYLexIdqSqA4b6y5jVqzErxcYHjsuVrKzeP_KEvI1o
Sylvia Bennion Bennion Education 3689 Racquet Club Circle Salt Lake City, Utah 84121 801-231-0311
‘Entrepreneurial capitalism takes more people out of poverty than aid.” ~Bono
Sylvia, I won’t even try to answer your questions, because I am not an expert, and because there are already experts out there that have answered all these and more.
What is clear to me is that the anti-vax movement began with a self-serving lie (see: Andrew Wakefield), but metastasized into a monstrosity that is killing children, because of motivated reasoning, some unscrupulous self-aggrandizers, and a lot of people who’ve experienced problems or tragedy casting about for answers. Every bit of reliable science I’ve read on the subject supports the conclusion that vaccines are safe (“safe” being a real-world safe, as in there’s nothing that’s 100% in the world) and a FAR, FAR better idea than not vaccinating.
People don’t “just want the facts.” People want someone to tell them that their conspiracist notions are true. There’s no grand Big Pharma cabal, looking to make a mint by making kids sick.
Hi : I am old enough to remember when Big Pharma claimed opiate pain relievers were absolutely safe. Then 20 years later, we began to see that they were obviously lying for the billions they make. We have now Big Pharma making claims that they do not bother to back up with factual, longitudinal studies. I am surprised, frankly, that you would not have an iota of skepticism when an industry stands to make billions. There is not a similar motivation among the anti-vaxxers. Anti-vaxxers are by-in-large parents of children who seem to have been healthy and then after vaccination as newborns or as children have developed all kinds of problems. Someone I know has a child suffering from epilepsy — after his brain swelled the day of his second vaccination. My own youngest child, a happy, totally healthy 10 lb baby came down with a 104 degree temperature an hour after his 3 month vaccines. He was almost ruined.
Do you know anything about adjuvants that hold the vaccines together? Have they been researched at all?
Did you know that Big Pharma is not doing the research studies that are required of them on the effects of their vaccines?
Without knowing basic answers to basic questions, I’m afraid you fall into the category of easily manipulated by current memes. Without evidence, hard to kknow if you’re not the one taken in by conspiracist theories of Big Pharma. Just sayin’.
Love your blog anyway!
Sylvia Bennion Bennion Education 3689 Racquet Club Circle Salt Lake City, Utah 84121 801-231-0311
‘Entrepreneurial capitalism takes more people out of poverty than aid.” ~Bono
The roots of my skepticism lie in exactly what you assert about Big Pharma: That someone made some shit up for selfish gain.
Except that the vast body of work confirms that Wakefield’s study was not only unreproducible, but a con job. And, I’ll repeat, since then, no credible study has been able to replicate a vaccine-autism link, while countless studies have found no link.
I understand the emotional and psychological desire to believe a causative link between vaccinations and health issues in children. Believe me, I do. But, rationally considered, it’s motivated reasoning, driven by an attempt to make sense of things we don’t fully understand. But, there are things we *do* understand, and among them is that diseases like measles, polio, mumps, diphtheria, et al, kill. Mother Nature wants to kill us.
I choose not to get deep in the weeds in this debate with people who’ve a personal element in the matter, specifically because the personal component enters into such debates. With that, I thank you for reading and bid you a good day.
Honestly, I have no personal stake in the argument. My youngest son is now 35 and has his MBA from Texas A&M. I did not allow him to have any further vaccinations until he was an adult and could make the decision of what went into his body by himself. But I am interested in the idea of My Body My Choice, a mostly leftist chant. There is obviously something going wrong with the health and wellness treatment of American infants. In Utah, now about one in 35 infants is on the autism spectrum. Ten years ago it was one in 70. When I was raising my children in the 1970’s – 1980’s I never heard of it or anything like it, and I lived in Ohio, NY, IL, MN, and IN and was active socially and in my church. I literally never heard of babies that have a frequency of disastrous mental impairment.
I have maintained an open mind about this subject as with political issues, and love entertaining new information and evidence.
If you took a chance and looked at the ingredients on the CDC list I sent you, you would see that aluminum is an ingredient. Where are the studies just looking at the aluminum adjuvant (that carries the vaccines) to see if it alone is safe. Do you know there are no studies in the US concerning this? Is that alarming to you at all? Remember it is US Big Pharma that is making +$Billions on these vaccinations. However, Spain did an adjuvant study that you will find interesting:
In Spain they compared groups of sheep given just the aluminum adjuvant found in vaccines, or a saline solution (control group). The vaccinated and aluminum adjuvant groups exhibited signs of stress and anxiety, became aggressive, and had heightened cortisol levels. The control group did not. Really interesting stuff!
https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchildrenshealthdefense.org%2Fnews%2Fvaccines-induce-bizarre-anti-social-behaviour-in-sheep%2F&data=02%7C01%7C%7C56265ef4f9f5485bc0f308d649c2c1df%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636777498151417365&sdata=LXIFLWMpG%2FxqwrjMWNjEV3GTtlQgN4WJdQFoBmNEWX4%3D&reserved=0
Sylvia Bennion Bennion Education 3689 Racquet Club Circle Salt Lake City, Utah 84121 801-231-0311
‘Entrepreneurial capitalism takes more people out of poverty than aid.” ~Bono
I appreciated that reply Sylvia. Mario in Las Vegas
Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.
Hi Peter: I mentioned your position on the Wakefield study to a friend in California. This was her reply. I think it is solid. Would you be willing to take her challenge — in her last paragraph, after you have read the CDC vaccine ingredients list (I sent you the link):
“There is zero chance that this guy has actually read Dr. Wakefield’s paper because everything he’s saying is wrong. Anyone who has actually read it would know that what he was looking at was gastrointestinal issues in kids with autism. The parents of the children who were his patients, reported that their kids regressed into autism after receiving the MMR vaccine. Wakefield literally said in his paper that he did not find any link between the MMR vaccine and autism, but that further studies should be done.
No numbers were cooked, there was nothing fraudulent that happened at all. To this day all of the parents still support him 100%. They came to him because he was a gastroenterologist and their autistic kids has horrible gastro issues. Current research supports the link between autism and gut issues, and his findings have been repeated many, many times.
It was his call to study the parents’ claims that their kids regressed after the MMR vaccine that made him dangerous. That is why his career was destroyed. It set an example and made people fearful of speaking out against vaccines, lest they be “Wakefielded.”
Since this is America, this blogger is free to mandate as many vaccines for himself as he wishes. He should start with the entire childhood vaccine schedule. Don’t worry, there’s a catch-up schedule for those who are as far behind as he is! Once he gets all 72 doses that kids receive before age 18, then we can talk about mandates for others. But anyone who thinks vaccines should be mandated for other people should start with themselves. He wouldn’t want to be a hypocrite who demands things of others that he hasn’t done himself, right?”
Best,
Sylvia Bennion Bennion Education 3689 Racquet Club Circle Salt Lake City, Utah 84121 801-231-0311
‘Entrepreneurial capitalism takes more people out of poverty than aid.” ~Bono
Thank you, Sylvia, but as I noted, I prefer to bow out of such conversations when there are personal connections.
Peter: None of my six children or 9 grandchildren, no family, and no relatives at all that I know of have autism or any vaccine damage. I thought I had mentioned that.
Sylvia Bennion Bennion Education 3689 Racquet Club Circle Salt Lake City, Utah 84121 801-231-0311
‘Entrepreneurial capitalism takes more people out of poverty than aid.” ~Bono
Peter. I do not agree witj your take on this particular topic because you are assuming that there is but one anti-vaccoine stance.
The MMR and Polio vaccines given at birth are proven over many decades to be necessary and prudent. Tetanus is another which is a proven “preventer” with no major side effects. However, the new fangled vaccines, like Gardasil, which my 16 year old daughter will NOT be getting. I am opposed to, based upon the white paper I have read.
Each year, especially, for the elderly, a new vaccine is created and advertised. The Big Pharma complex is extremely powerful and they have their lobbyist in Washington being compensated per diem. This is the most concerning aspect of where this thing might lead.
Mario, anti-vaxx became a thing when a guy named Andrew Wakefield published a study linking childhood immunizations against vaccine-preventable diseases to autism, and in particular, IIRC, to the preservative thimerosal.
Dozens of attempts to reproduce that study failed, and eventually it came out that Wakefield “cooked” his numbers, because he was selling his own vaccination protocol. The study was pulled from publication and Wakefield was stripped of his credentials.
The body of work on vaccines and autism is conclusive – no link has been found.
This disproven causation is what the colloquial definition of “anti-vaxxer” refers to. Gardasil did not even exist until more than a decade later.
This piece was not about Big Pharma being some sort of pack of angels. No one is, and we should all do our due diligence. But, the concerns you’re voicing are not part of the standard “anti-vaxx” movement.