Anti-vaxxers have started physically confronting parents taking kids to get shots

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In October, Dr. Eve Krief watched from the window of her Long Island, New York, pediatrics practice, as around 20 women gathered on the lawn.

Armed with signs and banners with messages like, “We spread truth not disease,” the women — a group of anti-vaccine activists from New York and California — had come to protest Krief over her recent support for the 2019 state law that removed religious exemptions for vaccines.

Some of the protesters sat with signs, while others stuck anti-vaccine propaganda under car windshield wipers in the parking lot. Several approached parents entering the building with their infants, asking, "Are you vaccinating your baby?"

Krief had experience with these particular women. She recognized the group's leader, a local mother who had followed her to her car after a community meeting about proposed vaccine legislation a few weeks earlier. Krief said the bill's passage led to more intense protest from people who had been using the religious exemption to mask their personal preference not to vaccinate. They had also infiltrated her Yelp and Health Grades accounts, posting negative reviews, although they weren't patients at her practice.

But the in-person protests and the interaction with patients was another level.

"It's unsettling," Krief said, adding that her office is beefing up security measures in response.

For the anti-vaccination organizers, Krief’s unease was an indicator of their success.

“Needless to say,” one wrote on her Facebook page, “we rattled her cage just a bit yesterday with our presence.”

New outbreaks and new laws

Opposition to immunizations was once largely limited to online bullying, but now opponents are increasingly taking their harassment tactics into the real world: aggressively following legislators and doctors and, in some cases, using physical violence.

The degree to which the anti-vaccine extremists takes this is in excess of any other group.

But as opposition to vaccination has risen in recent years, so have cases of measles. Major outbreaks occurred in California and New York have spurred lawmakers in those states to strengthen vaccine mandates for school children. Reaction from anti-vaccine groups was swift and violent.

Online conspiracy theorist Austin Bennett livestreamed himself physically shoving the author of California's law, state Sen. Dr. Richard Pan. Bennett was later charged with a misdemeanor. The next month, Rebecca Dalelio, a participant at a protest at the California state Capitol, was charged with assault and vandalism when police say she threw a menstrual cup full of blood on lawmakers in the gallery.

Pan, who is also a pediatrician, suspects he was Dalelio's target.

"Everyone around me was hit" when the blood splattered on the legislative floor, he said.

Pan said anti-vaccine groups have stalked him at conferences, speaking engagements, even the March for Science in Washington.

As legislators, "we deal with all sorts of contentious issues — guns, abortions, lots of issues people are very passionate about," Pan said. "But the degree to which the anti-vaccine extremists takes this is in excess of any other group."

“An awful new normal”

The main target of the anti-vaccine community is the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella. False links between the vaccine and a variety of conditions, including autism and sudden infant death syndrome, have been widely circulated on social media. These alleged links have been fully debunked.

On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that overall, there's been a 66 percent drop in measles cases worldwide since 2000, largely thanks to vaccination. The report estimates 23.2 million lives have been saved around the world because of the MMR vaccine.

But the downward trend of measles cases is showing worrisome signs of reversal. In the United States this year, 1,261 measles cases have been reported in 31 states — the largest number in almost three decades, according to the CDC.

During an infectious diseases conference in New York in November, Dr. Peter Hotez was followed throughout a hotel by several aggressive anti-vaccination protesters who filmed while pelting him with questions predicated on vaccine hoaxes. Hotez is a vaccine scientist, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine, and author of the recent book, "Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism."

Hotez tweeted from the event, thanking hotel security for “getting me out safe.”

“I've been targeted by them for 20 years,” Hotez said. But the real-life harassment is part of “an awful new normal.”

For years, people opposed to vaccines have flooded Hotez’s social media accounts, calling him a shill for the pharmaceutical industry, though he’s never been paid by a drugmaker. That harassment has increased as the anti-vaccination movement has grown, first on social media, and then assisted by the sale of books and videos through Amazon, Hotez said.

The handful of doctors and scientists targeted by the movement have been largely left to combat misinformation and weather the subsequent harassment on their own, he added.

The CDC, the surgeon general and, until recently, even major medical societies and doctors, have been slow to counteract misinformation spread by vaccine protesters, Hotez said. That unwillingness to engage the anti-vaccination crowd could have disastrous consequences, he said.

“Future measles outbreaks, deaths from the flu,” Hotez said. “We’re condemning a generation of women to cancer," he said, referring to the HPV vaccine, which protects against cervical cancer, as well as cancers of the anus, penis and throat.

At the center of these aggressive protests and actions is Joshua Coleman, who claims a vaccine injury confined his son to a wheelchair. Coleman — who was charged with willful cruelty to a child in 2015 related to a fight over a parking spot at a local elementary school — organizes events like the one that targeted Hotez, and provides templates for the black and red signs emblazoned with vaccine misinformation that have been a staple of recent protests.

Vaccine advocates have likened the newer protests to publicity stunts from the Westboro Baptist church — offensive signs and sometimes costumes, paired with harassment of passers-by at events the media is already covering. Events in Times Square, at Disneyland, and at the premiere of the movie Frozen II, which stars the actress Kristin Bell, an outspoken supporter of vaccinations, have been counted as successes and shared widely by the anti-vaccine community on their Facebook and Instagram pages. Bell is a favorite target; activists recently crashed the unveiling of her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and interrupted her appearance on The Jimmy Kimmel show.

Going offline

The real-world attacks on doctors, scientists and vaccine supporters seem to be a direct response to this year’s actions by Facebook and YouTube to rein in vaccine misinformation on their platforms. Videos and posts with content the platforms label as vaccine misinformation aren’t being seen and shared like they were in 2016.

“'I’m not able to communicate online through videos anymore and actually have people see it,” Coleman said. “That's kind of what started the whole concept of taking it to the streets and being out there with signs and with flyers.”

Coleman travels extensively; in November, he was in New York, California and Hawaii. That travel is supported by people who donate their airline miles, take up collections, or provide free lodging, in exchange for his help planning and documenting their protests, Coleman said.

He dismisses claims of harassment.

“These guys are making a big deal out of nothing,” Coleman said.

When presented with examples, such as the woman who threw blood at Sen. Pan, Coleman distanced both himself and the greater movement. “I’m just as horrified as anybody else,” he said. “It really isn't indicative of the behavior of most of our people.”

Indeed, Coleman and other prominent anti-vaccine groups says the perpetrators were not associated with the larger movement.

But Coleman’s signs were on display outside a Thanksgiving turkey drive at a school in Sen. Pan’s district where flu shots were being administered to low-income residents. One activist livestreamed on Facebook from inside the school gymnasium. In the video, she mocks Pan and his aide, while telling parents attending the drive that vaccines cause harm.

A chilling effect

The continued harassment could have a chilling effect among public health advocates and parents, said Leah Russin, executive director of the parent advocacy group, Vaccinate California.

“The threat of in-person violence has always been there,” Russin said. “But I think the reality of it has escalated. My fear is that it’s going to drown out and shut down public health advocates."

The anti-vaccine vitriol has proven effective in Florida.

State Sen. Lauren Book filed a bill that would have removed the religious exemption for vaccinating school children in the state. Anti-vaccination parents and groups soon filled public hearings, insisting that legislators reject the measure.

Book was also the target of a social media smear campaign filled with profanity from anti-vaccine groups, as well as images of Book mocked up to look like Adolf Hitler. Book is Jewish.

The legislature declined to hear debate on the bill, rendering it dead on arrival.

"I knew this was a very serious group of folks, but I don't know that I knew the voracity with which they advocate," Book said. "There is no conversation. There is no common ground."

"It's been a very, very difficult road," she added.

Both Pan and Book say they want to have a dialogue with people who have earnest questions or concerns about bills, but draw the line at violence.

"If we make policy based on conspiracy theories, that's not good for our country. That's not good for society. Policy needs to be grounded in truth," Pan said. "We need to be clear: bullying and intimidation of this kind is unacceptable."

Krief, the Long Island pediatrician, said that getting patients to vaccinate and discussing parents’ questions is her "biggest responsibility."

"We’ve saved millions of children’s lives because of vaccination. But we live in an age where people haven’t seen the harm and death that these diseases caused in the past," she said.

"Because they haven’t lived it, they don’t understand.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/kids-he ... d-n1096461

Unfortunately the antivaxxers hurt more than just themselves.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Anti-vaxxers have started physically confronting parents taking kids to get shots

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My kids get every vaccination there is. I get the flu shot and just go both shingles shots, got both pneumonia shots. AND with the measles outbreak I had my immunities tested and they are still good.
Anti-vaxxers are Flat-Earthers, basing their ideas on even LESS info than Flat-Earthers, who can, at least SEE an Earth that looks flat.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

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K9s wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2019 7:50 pm Pandemics can happen. Be prepared.
Yup. And people who aren't vaccinated will get sick, and many will die. John Adams had his children vaccinated against Small Pox back in the 18th century...and then it was far more dangerous as the doctor gave you teeny-tiny bit of small pox (rather than cow pox) and, IF you were lucky, you didn't get terribly sick. If not, you got VERY sick and likely scarred for life, and if EXTREMELY unlucky you got a full-blown case and died. Many did.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

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Heard an infectious disease physician today state that 60,000 people died from the flu last year and 90,000 the year before. There is Tamiflu an antiviral if taken within the first 48 hours, which helps reduce symptoms and virus shedding. I got my flu shot in September, seniors get a higher dose. The flu shot isn't 100% effective, depends on the year. Had the first shingles vaccine years ago but have to get the new one, plus time for another pneumonia vaccination.

There is so much ignorance about childhood vaccinations among supposedly "educated" adults. Reminds me of all the ignorance about HIV and AIDS in the 1980s.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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Samoa has arrest and jailed one Anti-Vaxxer
Samoan authorities have arrested a prominent anti-vaccination activist amid an outbreak that has killed at least 63 people, most of them children.

Edwin Tamasese has been charged with "incitement against a government order," according to the BBC.

Government officials say anti-vaccination advocates such as Tamasese have complicated their sweeping efforts to turn the tide on the highly contagious disease that has sickened more than 4,300 people on the independent Pacific islands.

The government has declared a state of emergency and ordered mandatory vaccinations. It shut schools indefinitely. This week, it launched a door-to-door mass vaccination campaign, asking families to pin a piece of red cloth on their homes if they haven't been vaccinated.

On Thursday and Friday, the government closed all of its offices except public utilities, so that civil servants could focus on the campaign. Officials say more than 20,000 people have received vaccines.

"Let us work together to ... convince those that do not believe that vaccinations are the only answer to the epidemic. Let us not be distracted by the promise of alternative cures," Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said earlier this week.

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The anti-vaccination movement "unfortunately has been slowing us down," Samoa's minister of communication, Afamasaga Lepuiai Rico Tupai, told New Zealand's 1 News Now.

Tupai blamed "anti-vaxxers" for the deaths of children. "We find out it's the message of anti-vaxx that's got to these families. ... What we say to them is, 'Don't be in the way of government. Don't be contributing to the deaths and the numbers rising.' "

As Tamasese was being taken into custody, he spoke out again on social media against the vaccine, falsely claiming that a combination of vitamin C and sodium ascorbate, a mineral salt of ascorbic acid, can cure the disease. "This will save your kids," was posted on Facebook before, he said, authorities took his phone.

Response to Tamasese's arrest has ranged from support from people who call him a hero to derision from critics who accuse him of worsening a deadly crisis.

"In jail for somthing he said? Do you all not see somthing wrong with this?" one Facebook user said. Another called for significant penalties: "Spreading antivaxx propaganda and lies which endangers children in the middle of an epidemic. He should be locked up for good."

Samoa's attorney general told Stuff that authorities were responding to the following statement Tamasese allegedly made about the government's vaccination campaign: "I'll be here to mop up your mess. Enjoy your killing spree."

In a speech on Thursday, Simona Marinescu, the United Nations resident coordinator for the region, called the outbreak "one of the greatest challenges that this country experienced in its recent history." Last week, the Samoan government asked the U.N. for help in controlling the epidemic.

Vaccination rates in Samoa have dramatically dipped in recent years, according to a new report from UNICEF. Coverage "plummeted from 58 per cent in 2017 to just 31 per cent in 2018, largely due to misinformation and mistrust among parents." UNICEF says vaccination rates of at least 95% are needed to prevent outbreaks.

The government's campaign has given that effort a huge boost. It said that as of Thursday, 82% of children under 5 on Samoa's two main islands are vaccinated.

Samoa's crisis comes during a global resurgence of the preventable disease. The World Health Organization estimates there were nearly 10 million measles cases last year — and 140,000 deaths.
https://www.npr.org/2019/12/06/7854876 ... toll-rises
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

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Anti-vaxxers in Afghanistan and other nations in the area have led to a rise in Polio, wiped out in the USA decades ago. My dad had Polio as a small child and it left part of his face paralyzed. Ebola workers in Africa have been terrorized because people want to take care of their own, and their dead, then THEY catch it, too. And they spread rumors that the Ebola workers are doing something (whatever) untoward and evil. I fully expect Small Pox to re-emerge, either spontaneously or maliciously.

Yes, vaccination has risks, but it saves thousands, even millions more than it hurts or kills. Literally millions of children won't get these horrible diseases. Or, if the anti-vaxxers win, millions will die from them. The Spanish Flu killed more people after WWI than WWI!
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

Re: Anti-vaxxers have started physically confronting parents taking kids to get shots

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YankeeTarheel wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 12:32 pm Anti-vaxxers in Afghanistan and other nations in the area have led to a rise in Polio, wiped out in the USA decades ago. My dad had Polio as a small child and it left part of his face paralyzed. Ebola workers in Africa have been terrorized because people want to take care of their own, and their dead, then THEY catch it, too. And they spread rumors that the Ebola workers are doing something (whatever) untoward and evil. I fully expect Small Pox to re-emerge, either spontaneously or maliciously.

Yes, vaccination has risks, but it saves thousands, even millions more than it hurts or kills. Literally millions of children won't get these horrible diseases. Or, if the anti-vaxxers win, millions will die from them. The Spanish Flu killed more people after WWI than WWI!
Yes health workers have been attacked in Africa, the rumors among natives are that they are spreading the disease. There is a rush to test more vaccines for Ebola before it jumps into more countries and jumps continents. Yes some people do get a reaction to flu vaccines called Guillaume-Barre Syndrome but it is very rare.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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I would like to know how many of the anti-vaxxers were vaccinated as children? I would bet it is the vast majority. So they can tell their daughters since you didn’t get the HPV vaccine you’re more likely to have cervical cancer. But don’t worry about having children because your husband is sterile because he didn’t get the mumps vaccine and had mumps that effected his testicles. You’re both have poor eyesight from having the measles and will probably have severe pain later in life due to the shingles from having the chickenpox.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

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TrueTexan wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 6:11 pm I would like to know how many of the anti-vaxxers were vaccinated as children? I would bet it is the vast majority. So they can tell their daughters since you didn’t get the HPV vaccine you’re more likely to have cervical cancer. But don’t worry about having children because your husband is sterile because he didn’t get the mumps vaccine and had mumps that effected his testicles. You’re both have poor eyesight from having the measles and will probably have severe pain later in life due to the shingles from having the chickenpox.
If you don't die from whooping cough or scarlet fever. And IF you manage to get pregnant and get Rubella ("German Measles") you're child is very likely to be born with birth defects ranging from deafness to heart disease and brain damage!
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

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tonguengroover wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 7:42 pm Whats with the cutoff at 65 years old for the stronger flu vaccine? I'm 64.5 years old and they won't give it to me. You should be able to get one if you want. Besides my flu shot I got the shingles vaccine last year.
I didn't know that! I'm 64.5 as well and had the regul'r flu shot and the second shingles shot--it was very scarce around here! My window for signing up for Medicare opens next April...
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

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YankeeTarheel wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 7:45 pm
tonguengroover wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 7:42 pm Whats with the cutoff at 65 years old for the stronger flu vaccine? I'm 64.5 years old and they won't give it to me. You should be able to get one if you want. Besides my flu shot I got the shingles vaccine last year.
I didn't know that! I'm 64.5 as well and had the regul'r flu shot and the second shingles shot--it was very scarce around here! My window for signing up for Medicare opens next April...
Why a second shingles shot? I thought they lasted forever?
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,”

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tonguengroover wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 7:49 pm
YankeeTarheel wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 7:45 pm
tonguengroover wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 7:42 pm Whats with the cutoff at 65 years old for the stronger flu vaccine? I'm 64.5 years old and they won't give it to me. You should be able to get one if you want. Besides my flu shot I got the shingles vaccine last year.
I didn't know that! I'm 64.5 as well and had the regul'r flu shot and the second shingles shot--it was very scarce around here! My window for signing up for Medicare opens next April...
Why a second shingles shot? I thought they lasted forever?
I don't know what you received but the Recombinant Zoster Vaccine (RZV) I received is a 2-shot series, the second in a 2-6 month window.
Printed Documentation wrote:Ths vaccine is also recommended for people who have already gotten the live shingles vaccine (Zostavax). There is no live virus in this vaccine.
I never got the Zostavax--maybe that's what you got.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

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Well I checked about Zostavax and this is what I found, yes for live vaccine.
ZOSTAVAX is a live attenuated virus vaccine indicated for prevention of herpes zoster (shingles) in individuals 50 years of age and older. ... ZOSTAVAX should not be used for prevention of primary varicella infection (Chickenpox). ... Help protect appropriate patients aged 50 years or ...
‎Dosage and Administration · ‎Storage · ‎Select Safety Information · ‎Efficacy
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,”

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tonguengroover wrote: Sat Dec 07, 2019 7:42 pm Whats with the cutoff at 65 years old for the stronger flu vaccine? I'm 64.5 years old and they won't give it to me. You should be able to get one if you want. Besides my flu shot I got the shingles vaccine last year.
Did you go to a drug store or health clinic for the flu shot, if so you might see your own doctor about the high dose.
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/highrisk/65over.htm
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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My GP keeps me vaccined up to date. Do need to ask him if measles shot might be considered. Got flu shot in October and Doc said they were out of super X shot, what the hell ever that was, but said what I got should be adequate - hope he's correct.
"Being Republican is more than a difference of opinion - it's a character flaw." "COVID can fix STUPID!"
The greatest, most aggrieved mistake EVER made in USA was electing DJT as POTUS.

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Wino wrote: Sun Dec 08, 2019 10:13 am My GP keeps me vaccined up to date. Do need to ask him if measles shot might be considered. Got flu shot in October and Doc said they were out of super X shot, what the hell ever that was, but said what I got should be adequate - hope he's correct.
I got my GP to prescribe blood work to see what immunity I had (I had measles and chicken pox, but not mumps. Instead I got one of the earliest mumps vaccines, long before the MMR shot).
Turns out my immunity for every thing I had either had, or was vaccinated for, were all still up to date. Never had rubella or a vaccination. Could get the MMR shot since I'm already got immunity to the MM part.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

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TrueTexan wrote: Sun Dec 08, 2019 11:24 am While we are on vaccines don't forget you Tetanus vaccine. Also get your pets up to date on their Rabies vaccination.
Got the tetanus shot in May when I tore my foot on a hurricane shutter in Abaco. They are supposed to be good for 10 years but if you have a deep cut or puncture, it's recommended to get a booster ASAP.
Dogs and cats are up to date on everything, not just rabies.
"Even if the bee could explain to the fly why pollen is better than shit, the fly could never understand."

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