Anti-Vaxxer thread (New York Reports 1st Polio Case in Nearly a Decade)

[PleaseBlitz]

At least this will be an instance where it's not psycho parents just putting their kids at risk, this time they'll actually be putting their own lives at risk too.  

[TheGoodBits]

Just now, Elessar78 said:

Facebook needs to go away. It's a cesspool of misinformation.

Just accelerating the consumption of fwd: fwd: fwd: email nonsense directly to those who are most susceptible to it. It’s a huge issue and will continue to be. 

[youngestson]

Hey now. If it wasn't for facebook I wouldn't know medical professionals don't think social distancing is needed, but the main-stream media won't report it!

[China]

Anti-Vaccination Activists Are Growing Force at Virus Protests

 

The protest on Friday in Sacramento urging California’s governor to reopen the state resembled the rallies that have appeared elsewhere in the country, with crowds flocking to the State Capitol, pressing leaders to undo restrictions on businesses and daily life.

 

But the organizers were not militia members, restaurant owners or prominent conservative operatives. They were some of the loudest anti-vaccination activists in the country.

 

The people behind the rally are founders of a group, the Freedom Angels Foundation, which is best known in California for its opposition to state efforts to mandate vaccinations. And the protest was the latest example of the overlapping interests that have connected a range of groups — including Tea Party activists and armed militia groups — to oppose the measures that governors have taken to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Activists known for their opposition to vaccines have also been involved in protests in New York, Colorado and Texas, where they have found a welcome audience for their arguments for personal freedom and their suspicion of government.  But their growing presence at the protests worries public health experts who fear that their messaging could harm the United States’ ability to turn a corner following the pandemic if Americans do not accept a future vaccine.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Mr. Sinister]

I have a newfound respect for democracy.

 

I would've had all these people rounded up and taken to a freshly built sanitarium. 

[China]

Anti-Vaxxers Have a Dangerous Theory Called “Natural Immunity.” Now It’s Going Mainstream

 

On April 26, two California physicians posted a video on YouTube about what they said was a potentially deadly side effect of social distancing: Our immune systems will get weaker because of lack of exposure to germs. They weren’t the only ones to make this argument. In a May 4 video, a controversial and outspoken Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai—an engineer who claims to have invented email—also embraces this idea. In a May 3 YouTube video, he announced, “Viruses do not harm or kill us.” Instead, he argues, “Your body is an amazing being—it knows how to take care of itself, and that’s how we get immune health. But these politicians, the CDC and the NIH—they’re not talking about any of this. Shame on them, it’s criminal.” An article from the Minnesota-based conservative think tank the Charlemagne Institute titled “COVID-19 Lockdowns May Destroy Our Immune Systems” is currently making the rounds, too.

 

It’s not hard to see why this content took off. The idea—or the basic contours of it, at least—has some elements of truth. Immunologists have shown that, in general, we strengthen our immune systems by exposing them to pathogens. In the last few decades, researchers have amassed evidence to suggest that some chronic conditions that are common in the developed world but rare in poorer countries—including asthma, allergies, and autoimmune illnesses like Crohn’s disease—could be the result of an environment that doesn’t have enough germs, causing the immune system to go haywire.

 

But the coronavirus is not a chronic immune condition; it’s a novel virus that attacks the body’s systems in ways not yet completely understood. Experts roundly reject the idea that social distancing will dangerously weaken the immune system. “A broad-based immunity weakening because of social distancing? Definitely not,” said Saad Omer, a Yale University epidemiologist and infectious disease specialist. Jennifer Reich, a sociologist who studies the spread of misinformation about health, agreed. “In order for our immune systems to be harmed by social distancing, we would have to live in sterile settings for a long time in which no bacteria or germs could affect us,” she wrote to me in an email.

 

But the experts I talked to weren’t at all surprised to see these discredited ideas making the rounds; they’ve seen them before in the anti-vaccination and extreme holistic medicine communities. This is the coronavirus edition of their pervasive belief in “natural immunity.” Rupali Limaye, a Johns Hopkins epidemiologist who has studied the movement against mandatory vaccines, told me, “We have heard from those that are concerned about vaccines the argument that they prefer to allow their immune system to be naturally exposed to a specific pathogen to gain immunity,” she wrote to me in an email. “It’s a spinoff of previous theories we’ve seen,” concurred Omer, who has written extensively about anti-vaccination groups. “This is all the usual stuff.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[wrilbo67]

A few years ago I went on a ski trip with a bunch of randoms— it was one of those trips where everyone just extended an invitation to an extra friend so it ended up being like 15 people but none of us really knew more than 2-3 others.

 

Anyways one night at dinner, one of the guys said some things that were vaguely anti-vaxxer (not a full-on conspiracy but a comment like, “you really don’t know what’s in all those vaccines.”). It turned out one of the other guys on the trip worked in R&D for a pharma company and another woman worked for the cdc in Atlanta. The ensuing beat down was glorious. I actually felt bad for the first guy- I think he was making conversation but unwittingly hit a nerve.

 

also, I have a low opinion of pharmaceutical execs, but I firmly believe that the scientists that go to work there are truly in it to help people.

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

Most of the people I know of that “refuse to let them put that chip in me” are largely insignificant to society as a whole.  What exactly is it that makes them believe this is a microchip meant to track them and track what exactly?  And even if it was a microchip (just playing along), what are they scared of? This is something I just don’t get.  
 

 

Edited May 14, 2020 by BatteredFanSyndrome

[China]

Some evangelicals fear the 'mark of the beast' from a coronavirus vaccine

 

Peggy Popham gets her flu shot every year, despite her daughter Laura’s opposition to vaccines.

 

“I’m 70 and I’ve gotten sick before,” said Popham. “I don’t have a great immune system.”

 

Popham, who spoke to Yahoo News by phone while quarantining at home in Asheville, N.C., acknowledges that the same factors put her at risk for the coronavirus. “Of course,” she said, she’s worried about contracting COVID-19. 

 

But she’s more worried about a possible vaccine for it. 

 

“Absolutely not,” she said. “I would not take the vaccine.”

 

That’s a view shared by nearly one in five Americans, according to a recent Yahoo News/YouGov poll, which found that an additional 26 percent weren’t sure if they’d take it. Some of them no doubt have been influenced by the anti-vaccine disinformation that has been spreading for more than a decade on social media — although that has been directed primarily at routine childhood immunizations and their hypothesized link to autism. Popham’s reasons aren’t medical: They are religious and political.

 

Popham believes that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert on the administration’s coronavirus task force, is part of the “deep state” along with Bill Gates, another prominent villain of coronavirus conspiracy theorists. She believes their interest in developing a coronavirus vaccine is “driven by money” as well as “a socialist agenda” designed to “get control of us.” Based on research she’s done online, Popham thinks it’s likely that the vaccine will include some sort of human tracking device. 

 

“It will keep track of us,” she said. “Kind of like in the end days, as the Bible says, you’ll be numbered.” 

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Renegade7]

Just dont let them do **** unless they get the vaccine when its mandatory for public school.  See how many of them really bout that homeschool life.

[LD0506]

On 5/15/2020 at 9:03 PM, China said:

Some evangelicals fear the 'mark of the beast' from a coronavirus vaccine

Click on the link for the full article

 

They're gone, full blown rabid and they ain't ever comin back

 

The question is whether we are willing to allow rabid animals to roam free infecting others

[Mr. Sinister]

15 minutes ago, LD0506 said:

 

They're gone, full blown rabid and they ain't ever comin back

 

The question is whether we are willing to allow rabid animals to roam free infecting others

 

We should band together and pool money for a"Covid Island" somewhere in the South Pacific. Let them live free.  Free from tyranny. Free from the Libs. Free from a vaccine. Then when they all die off, it's a net positive for all of us.

 

I'd be willing to fork over a G

[Larry]

Just now, Mr. Sinister said:

 

We should band together and pool money for a"Covid Island" somewhere in the South Pacific. Let them live free.  Free from tyranny. Free from the Libs. Free from a vaccine. Then when they all die off, it's a net positive for all of us.

 

I'd be willing to fork over a G

 

The dinosaurs always get loose.  

[skinsmarydu]

If you carry a cell phone, you're already being "kept track of", like LITERALLY. 

Ffs. 🙄

 

[Llevron]

For money AND for socialist agenda. Word lol

[TradeTheBeal!]

Measles Island!

[LD0506]

2 hours ago, Mr. Sinister said:

 

We should band together and pool money for a"Covid Island" somewhere in the South Pacific. Let them live free.  Free from tyranny. Free from the Libs. Free from a vaccine. Then when they all die off, it's a net positive for all of us.

 

I'd be willing to fork over a G

 

 

Space Force ------> Mars

 

Jus sayn......

[Mr. Sinister]

2 minutes ago, LD0506 said:

 

 

Space Force ------> Mars

 

Jus sayn......

 

Maybe we can send these folks to Venus.

[Renegade7]

[China]

The Anti-Vax Movement’s Radical Shift From Crunchy Granola Purists to Far-Right Crusaders

 

When the pandemic hit, many American parents found themselves muddling through homeschooling for the first time—but Elizabeth Beall is an old pro: She’s been teaching her 13-year-old daughter from home since kindergarten. Over the years, Beall, who lives in California, has learned that homeschooling works best when it doesn’t just happen at home, so she slowly built up a network of parents—mostly moms—who share ideas in Facebook groups and sometimes get the kids together in person for educational and social activities. Beall has formed tight bonds with many of the moms—and they’ve found that the Facebook groups are handy places to swap tips and information. So in late April, when Beall noticed that a few of the moms had posted a video of two physicians talking about the coronavirus, she gamely clicked.

 

The two doctors, emergency medicine specialists from Bakersfield, California, said that social distancing to stop the spread of the virus could dangerously weaken the immune system. A former epidemiologist, Beall noticed right away that something was off: The doctors seemed to be cherry-picking data about how many people had contracted the disease and recovered, and their math just didn’t make sense. She was shocked to hear them advise parents to intentionally expose children to the coronavirus to achieve herd immunity—it seemed reckless, maybe even deadly. So, she waded into the comments and calmly pointed out the flaws.

 

Beall was pretty sure she knew where the video came from: Many of the roughly 200 moms in her groups, she said, also belonged to Facebook groups that opposed vaccines, and occasionally, the moms cross-posted memes or information. Recently, the anti-vaccine groups had taken up the cause of opposing states’ shelter-in-place orders, claiming the lockdown violated their personal freedoms.

 

In the past, Beall, a strong believer in vaccines, would often respectfully challenge any inaccurate information the other members shared. In pre-pandemic days, her friends had thanked her for her perspective and moved on. This was how things went for homeschool moms: Even when they disagreed, they were still a tribe.

 

But this time, the comments took a different turn. Instead of the friendly back-and-forth, Beall’s remarks were met with vitriol. It was “this flood of beliefs around public health measures being an assault on freedom and liberty, and slavery and Holocaust analogies, and conspiracy theories, and 5G and Bill Gates,” she recalls. “It just went on and on with an endless flood of anger toward public health in general and me personally for not going along with this narrative in the video.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Flu Shot And Pneumonia Vaccine Might Reduce Alzheimer's Risk, Research Shows

 

For years, public health officials have been trying to dispel the myth that people who get a flu shot are more likely to get Alzheimer's disease.

 

They are not. And now there is evidence that vaccines that protect against the flu and pneumonia may actually protect people from Alzheimer's, too.

 

The evidence comes from two studies presented Monday at this year's Alzheimer's Association International Conference, which is being held as a virtual event.

 

"We've always known that vaccines are very important to our overall health," says Maria Carrillo, chief science officer of the Alzheimer's Association. "And maybe they even contribute to protecting our memory, our cognition, our brain."

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

One-in-Three Americans Would Decline a Free COVID-19 Vaccine

 

As the death toll from the coronavirus in the United States passes the 160,000-mark, a new poll makes it clear that even if there were a safe and effective vaccine many Americans would refuse to get it. If a vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration were offered for free, 35 percent of Americans say they would not get vaccinated, according to a Gallup poll. And those who would refuse the vaccine are more likely to be Republican. While 81 percent of Democrats said they’d get vaccinated if a free, FDA-approved vaccine were available, only 47 percent of Republicans said the same. Independents are in the middle of the two, with 59 percent saying they would accept the vaccine.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Anti-vaccine group sues Facebook, claims fact-checking is “censorship”

 

A notorious anti-vaccine group spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed suit today in federal court in California alleging that Facebook's fact-checking program for false scientific or medical misinformation violates its constitutional rights.

 

Children's Health Defense claims in its suit (PDF) that Facebook, its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and the organizations Science Feedback, Poynter, and PolitiFact acted "jointly or in concert with federal government agencies" to infringe on CHD's First and Fifth Amendment rights. The suit also alleges Facebook and the fact-checking organizations colluded to commit wire fraud by "clearing the field" of anti-vaccine ads.

Facebook has "insidious conflicts with the pharmaceutical industry and its captive health agencies," CHD claimed in a press release. "Facebook currently censors Children’s Health Defense’s page, targeting its purge against factual information about vaccines, 5G and public health agencies."

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Inside the Mind of an Anti-vaxxer

 

Sometime in the coming months, our prayers will have been answered. The researchers will have pulled their all-nighters, mountains will have been moved, glass vials will have been shipped, and a vaccine that protects us from the novel coronavirus will be here. We will all clamber to get it so we can go back to school, work, restaurants, and life.

 

All of us, that is, except for people like Marcus Nel-Jamal Hamm. Hamm, a Black actor and professional wrestler, is what some might call an “anti-vaxxer,” though he finds that term derogatory and reductive. Since about 2013, he’s been running a Facebook page called “Over Vaccination Nation,” which now has more than 3,000 followers. One recent post is a video by the anti-vaccinationist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., wrongly suggesting that mercury-laced vaccines are shipped to predominantly Black communities.

 

Hamm’s wariness of vaccines began when he took his son, who is now 10, to get vaccinated as a baby. He asked the pediatrician whether the boy could be exempted from the standard vaccine schedule because he has relatives with multiple sclerosis and autism. According to Hamm, the doctor treated him like a criminal just for asking.

 

The experience left Hamm in a fog of unanswered questions: Do doctors have a quota of vaccines they have to fulfill? Why do some kids have bad reactions to vaccines? Is there something they’re not telling us? He started to distrust the accepted wisdom about vaccines, doubting that the official narrative is the true one.

Today, Hamm believes the pharmaceutical industry is corrupt, and that it’s attempting to spin up a coronavirus vaccine too quickly. (The latter is a worry of the scientific community too, stoked by President Donald Trump’s ceaseless chatter about having a vaccine ready before Election Day—and the very name of the government’s vaccine project, Operation Warp Speed.) Though Hamm fears contracting COVID-19, when the coronavirus vaccine becomes available, he intends to avoid getting immunized.

 

People like Hamm might be the missing piece to the puzzle of ending the pandemic for good. Developing a safe, effective coronavirus vaccine will be a monumental achievement, but it might not be enough. Encouraging people to actually get the vaccine might be the real battle, and people are even less predictable than viruses.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]