Anti-Vaxxers Needled After Asking To Be Called 'Vaccine Risk Aware'
A recent Twitter post is getting mocked after posting a request that the media avoid using the term “anti-vaxxer,” calling the label “derogatory” and “inflammatory.”
On Sunday, a Twitter account associated with an anti-vaccination website called Crazy Mothers posted the request to stop using the label, which is often applied to those who claim without evidence that vaccines are dangerous. The same message was posted to the site’s Instagram account.
Vaccines are safe and effective at establishing herd immunity and reducing the risk of disease for sensitive populations. In March, a decadelong study showed there was no link between vaccines and autism, a common claim among the anti-vaxxer set.
Dear Media,
Please retire the use of the term “Anti-vaxxer.” It is derogatory, inflammatory, and marginalizes both women and their experiences. It is dismissivemy simplistic, highly offensive and largely false. We politely request that you refer to us as the Vaccine Risk Aware. pic.twitter.com/WtAyFOhLuv— Crazymothers (@Crazymothers1) December 1, 2019
Measles cases have surged to the highest number reported in the U.S. in 25 years, which health officials have attributed to undervaccinated communities allowing the highly contagious disease to spread.
Many Twitter users decided to needle the Crazy Mothers account by suggesting there are even more appropriate terms than “anti-vaxxer” or “vaccine risk aware.”
One person explained, for example, that “anti-vaxxer” is meant to be an insult.
It’s supposed to be derogatory. Anti-vaxxers threaten the lives of children, their own & more importantly other children. Their anti-science extremists who ignore experts & have a delusional sense of their own of their own intellectual & moral significance. They should be mocked.
— (((Brad Belmont))) (@BradBelmont) December 3, 2019
Other users offered other terms that more accurately reflect the effects of being against vaccines.
Agreed; anti-vaxxer doesn't quite capture the nuance.
Pro-epidemic, pro-death-from-preventable-illness does.— #GiveUsAVote #CloseTheCamps NichtMeinFührer 🌊 (@TheRiverWanders) December 3, 2019
How about Child Cemetery Advocates?
— Felix Vasquez 🇵🇷 (@FVasquezJr) December 3, 2019
Plague enthusiasts would be more accurate
— Dreadful E (@EvilCEOE) December 2, 2019
I'm willing to compromise on "manslaughter enthusiasts", "infant infectors", or "plague spreaders", your choice.
— definitely not a hugo award winning fanfic author (@rahaeli) December 3, 2019
A couple of doctors chimed in to point out that while no vaccine is without risk, the benefits far outweigh the potential dangers.
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Vaccine risk biased. No vaccine is without risk, but the risk of a severe reaction is vanishingly small:https://t.co/dXtUGPtckG
There is no link with autism https://t.co/Gfz5H5O6Qt
Or mercuryhttps://t.co/pG8SAU9o5P
But huge evidence of benefit:https://t.co/YA4xu1CUuX— Dr Benjamin Janaway 🧠 (@drjanaway) December 2, 2019
If you actually were "Risk Aware" you'd not be anti-vaxxers, because the risk of vaccine side-effects is tiny, especially compared to the risk we all face because you undermine herd immunity. So... calling you "risk aware" would be a lie.https://t.co/Ngn9RXkGut
— Dr. Dennis Eckmeier (@DennisEckmeier) December 2, 2019
Others broke down the possible semantic alternatives.
1. Anyone can be "vaccine risk aware", the vast majority take vaccines as they are "disease risk aware". 2. "Vaccine hesitant" describes those who are unsure/reluctant and ask questions. "Anti-vaxxers" are those who actively campaign to prevent others from having their vaccines
— EviDenseChallenge (@dense_evi) December 2, 2019
"Anti-vaxxer" is biased and simplistic in the same way as "flat-earther" or "birther" - it suggests a defensible logical position that a reasonable person can hold.
"Self-indulgent conspiracy theorist divorced from objective reality" would be more accurate.— Jeremy Ray Jenkins (@JeremyRJenkins) December 2, 2019
And while the request to start referring to anti-vaxxers as “vaccine risk aware” was made to media, one person claiming to be an immunologist explained why that probably wasn’t going to happen.
Immunologist here.
The answer is: NO
You are not "Vaccine Risk Aware", you are "Dangerously uninformed and insisting that public health experts indulge your fantasies"
If you don't want Anti-vax, the only thing left is Self-Indulgent And Irresponsible Crazyperson
Pick one.— JulieS (@jaxcarys) December 3, 2019
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Hepatitis B
DTaP
MMR
Chickenpox
Haemophilus Influenza Type B (Hib)
Polio (IPV)
Pneumococcal Conjugate (PCV)
Influenza (flu)
Rotavirus (RV)
Hepatitis A
Meningococcal Conjugate (MCV4)
Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.