Blog #9 - Kelli Grimm

I almost ditched Facebook a while back because my newsfeed was becoming spammed daily with wild accusations and political polarized posts shared by none other than my family members. Interesting enough, very few of the annoying posts I ~almost~ comment on but ultimately decide is a waste of my time were coming from the population of 50+ not the “ignorant” millennials/Gen Xers. As a future healthcare professional, one type of post stops me dead in my tracks and that is anything stemming from the antivaccination crew. Recently, while scrolling through my feed, I stumbled upon a post which claimed that an “Expert Confirms Flu Shot Behind Deadly Epidemic That's Killed Thousands.” I HAD to check this out, I mean come on… an actual confirmed singular cause for an ENTIRE epidemic?! Upon review, this article was none other than a comical post filled with cherry picked sentences and littered with “health experts” and “countless other medical professionals, MDs, and PhDs” who all supposedly agree, yet no actual evidence of who agreed. As my interest peaked, I decided to google the so called “ABC news report” of the public health nurse who “claimed” that the flu vaccine caused the flu epidemic-where this report got it’s “facts”. To my complete and utter surprise, the report did not exist. What I did find was the actual article where the nurse explains why the vaccine this year was not as effective as years past due to mutations of the virus in the real world that took place during the creation of this year’s vaccine. She then goes on to encourage people to get the vaccine in the same statement.

This type of article seems to be a trend with Antivaxers, spinning credible professional’s explanations of vaccine effects into ways that vaccines cause things such as Autism, cancer, or disease. They often use a title that is sure to grab your attention, but concrete evidence isn’t actually present in the following article. The manipulation of health professionals’ words fools uneducated people into believing they are reading a credible source which then causes them to think their beliefs are supported. Spreading this crap is leading to the reemergence of diseases that have been eradicated for years, such as measles, and sadly its turning into quite the epidemic itself. When it comes to vaccinating, the only way herd immunity can protect those who can’t be vaccinated (immuno-compromised, infants, etc) is when the majority gets vaccinated. This push for not vaccinating individuals puts others at risk for contracting disease that could be otherwise preventable.
http://www.neonnettle.com/news/3753-expert-confirms-flu-shot-behind-deadly-epidemic-that-s-killed-thousands
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