#hillary simpson

Yesterday, antivaxers held a protest event on the Mall in Washington, DC that they called the Vaccine Injury Epidemic (VIE) Event. Misnformation flowed fast and furious.

Antivaxers like rallies. They like protests. They think that their little gatherings (and they nearly always are pretty small) show overwhelming support for their viewpoint to the world in general and to legislators who decide vaccine policy in particular. The first time I wrote about one of these little confabs was an antivax “march on Washington” eleven years ago, led by none other than the…

Vaccine Injury Epidemic (VIE) Event: Antivaxers will march on Washington again, led by @Crazymothers1.

If there’s one thing antivaxers want, it’s to be taken seriously. They labor under the delusion that they represent some sort of mass movement. While they’re more influential than they should be for a group promoting a dangerous anti-science and anti-health message, fortunately the hard core antivaxers still represent a tiny fraction of the population. Still, they keep trying. One tool they like…