Woman Dives Down Anti-Vaxxer Rabbit's Hole In Twitter Thread About Global Fanaticism

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mattstaff
Jun 21, 2019 6:00 PM EDT

Twitter user @stephhegerty, falls down a rabbit's hole about anti-vaxxers. She went to Italy where it's become a particularly big issue the last few years. Huge contributors to this big issue being those pleasant things like the rapid spread of misinformation. Catch the rest of her findings over here after you're done checking out her Twitter thread. 

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  • 01
    anti vaxxers - Text - t168 277 Stephanie Hegarty @stephhegarty 5h Only 59% of people in western Europe think vaccines are safe. Are more and more people questioning whether to vaccinate their kids? It's a conversation that has become toxic and polarised. WHY? Thread on my latest story, with @Yousef_Eldin
    via @stephhegarty
  • 02
    anti vaxxers - Text - Stephanie Hegarty Follow @stephhegarty Outbreaks of diseases are happening in countries where they haven't been seen in decades. Measles is the most obvious but also polio, whooping cough.. And it's linked to "vaccine hesitancy" one of the top ten global health risks this year, according to @WHO
    via @stephhegarty
  • 03
    anti vaxxers - Text - Stephanie Hegarty Follow @stephhegarty Their fears and I heard this in Italy, the UK, online is that these days children have to have too many vaccines at the same time, that it's not safe. There's no scientific evidence to back this up but that doesn't mean the fears aren't genuine.
    via @stephhegarty
  • 04
    anti vaxxers - Text - Stephanie Hegarty Follow @stephhegarty We went to Italy because in 2017 it brought in a law that's effectively forcing parents to vaccinate their children -if they want to send them to school. We met parents who said when they told their doctors they had doubts abut vaccines they were threatened.
    via @stephhegarty
  • 05
    anti vaxxers - Text - Stephanie Hegarty Follow @stephhegarty Because they feel ridiculed and rejected for their doubts they turn to each other - on and offline and fall into a rabbit hole of "alternative facts", conspiracy theories. The main one that government and big pharma are conspiring to sell parents a lie. Nassim Langrudi EVENT HOST,CORVELVA It's easy to see that the mainstream media is being piloted on this issue.
    via @stephhegarty
  • 06
    anti vaxxers - Text - Stephanie Hegarty Follow @stephhegarty One person pushing that idea is struck off former doctor Andrew Wakefield. He wrote a fraudulent study that linked vaccines to autism. It's been discredited several times and yet he can still fill a conference room here in Italy...
    via @stephhegarty
  • 07
    anti vaxxers - Text - Stephanie Hegarty Follow @stephhegarty Wakefield does that by pushing a conspiracy theory that science, medicine and the media are censoring him. But he taps into something deeper...
    via @stephhegarty
  • 08
    anti vaxxers - Text - Stephanie Hegarty Follow @stephhegarty It's not just quack doctors that are playing into this - it's seeping into politics. Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen questioned vaccines in their campaigns. It plays into populist ideas of individual freedom and of a conspiracy between the elites.
    via @stephhegarty
  • 09
    anti vaxxers - Text - Stephanie Hegarty Follow @stephhegarty Italy's two populist parties, now in power, also campaigned against the mandatory vaccine law before the elections last year. But they haven't managed to repeal it yet. These parties profit from distrust of the authorities.
    via @stephhegarty
  • 10
    anti vaxxers - Text - Stephanie Hegarty Follow @stephhegarty For all the parents I met, this trust broke down at the doctors office/health centre when the doc or nurse refused to address their doubts. So is there a solution?
    via @stephhegarty
  • 11
    anti vaxxers - Text - Stephanie Hegarty Follow @stephhegarty Jenny used to be anti-vaxx but then she stumbled on a doctor online who in hundreds of FB messages took the time to answer her questions, talk about her doubts and unpick all the misinformation she was finding online.
    via @stephhegarty
  • 12
    anti vaxxers - Text - Stephanie Hegarty Follow @stephhegarty I went into a rabbit hole of my own looking into the anti-vaxx movement, fake news, conspiracies and real fears... Catch the full report here.
    via @stephhegarty

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