Those Times Anti-Vaccine Influencers Got It Wrong
The Real Truth About Vaccines
What happens when anti-vaccine influencers get things wrong?
Mostly they just move on to something else and hope you miss that they were wrong…
Those Times Peggy O’Mara Got It Wrong
That was certainly the case with Peggy O’Mara’s Mothering magazine!
Not only were they wrong about whooping cough, this is the magazine that featured Christine Maggiore on its cover!
She’s the HIV positive mom who infamously denied that HIV causes AIDS and refused all recommended treatments, even after she became pregnant.
“The HIV-positive mother of two laid out matter-of-factly why, even while pregnant, she hadn’t taken HIV medications, and why she had never tested her children for the virus.”
A Mother’s Denial, a Daughter’s Death
Can you predict what happened?
That’s right.
Soon after, her 3-year-old daughter, Eliza Jane Scovill, was dead of AIDS-related pneumonia. A death that could have prevented if Christine Maggiore had taken AZT during her pregnancy or had her child tested and treated.
But she did neither of those things, because Christine Maggiore didn’t believe that HIV caused AIDS - she was a vocal AIDS denialist. And neither of her pediatricians, Jay Gordon nor Paul Fleiss, had ever had her children tested.
“Fleiss, Gordon and Incao all are known for their unconventional approaches to medicine. Gordon and Incao are staunch opponents of mandatory vaccination of children; Fleiss is a vocal critic of male circumcision. Incao did not return repeated phone calls this week.”
A Mother’s Denial, a Daughter’s Death
Not surprisingly, Christine Maggiore also died a few years later.
And everyone else involved?
Well, Paul Fleiss later died, but there were no consequences for any of them.
And while Peggy O'Mara’s Mothering magazine eventually went under, it was likely killed by the coming of the internet, not because she was peddling dangerous health misinformation to new mothers.
Those Times Anti-Vaccine Influencers Got It Wrong
It should also be no surprise that many other anti-vaccine influencers have gotten things wrong over the years, especially when they promote alternative medicine that doesn’t work.
Remember Immanuel Pfeiffer?
He wrote The Fallacy of Vaccination in 1890.
He was unvaccinated and became critically ill, taking months to recover after he intentionally exposed himself to smallpox at a hospital, believing that he couldn’t get sick because he was healthy and had been fasting.
He was wrong!
Of course, he wasn’t the last anti-vaccine influencer to be wrong.
Others include:
RFK, Jr. - has been very wrong that it is hard to kill a healthy child with a vaccine preventable disease, that there are no older adults with autism, that MMR vaccines do not offer life-long protection, that Mennonites don’t vaccinate, and a very long list of other things!
Donald Trump - among many other things, Donald Trump is wrong that kids get over 80 vaccines, that babies get a big VAT of vaccines pumped into their bodies, and he is wrong that vaccines are associated with autism.
Joe Rogan - is wrong when he talks about COVID, vaccines, and autism
Kelly Brogan – she’s a holistic psychiatrist who thinks AIDS is a Big Pharma scam
Ben Tapper – like many chiropractors, Ben Tapper doesn’t seem to think that viruses cause disease
Larry Palevsky - says that all vaccinated children are vaccine injured and claimed that the large New York measles outbreak was a hoax.
Paul Thomas - claimed that children had a one in a billion risk of dying from COVID and yet, over 2,000 kids have died in the United States.
Peter McCullough - said that the Hantavirus outbreak was caused by rodents on the ship and that passengers should have been kept out of their cabins and should instead have been made to stay on the ship’s deck. He also pushed the idea that the Men B outbreak in Kent was caused by a lab leak.
Robert O Young – a critic of vaccination, says he can cure people with cancer with his ‘pH Miracle Living‘ program because cancer is caused by excess acid – it isn’t, as Kim Tinkham found out when she progressed to having incurable breast cancer on his treatment… He also wrote a book about terrain theory…
Robert Willner – an HIV denialist who was against the development of an HIV vaccine believed that you can prevent all disease with “diet, lifestyle changes, sanitation.” He actually injected himself with HIV and died of a heart attack the next year, despite knowing how to prevent all disease…
Mark and David Geier – this father and son pair are infamous for pushing a chemical castration treatment (Lupron) for autistic children, a treatment that led to Mark Geier losing his medical license (he’s a geneticist) in several states. And a medical board ruling against David Geier for practicing medicine without a license.
Jay Gordon – once made the comment that “Heaven help us if we have a generation of kids who get a hepatitis B vaccine and a HPV vaccine and they think that now unprotected sex is okay…” Not surprisingly, studies have found that this doesn’t happen. In fact, teen pregnancy rates are at their lowest levels ever.
Suzanne Humphries – a nephrologist who became a homeopath and now pushes anti-vaccine talking points, believes that vaccines don’t work and that polio was really caused by DDT.
Viera Scheibner – the micropaleontologist who thinks that getting a vaccine-preventable disease is good for kids, that vaccines are contaminated with amoebas, and that they cause SIDS and shaken baby syndrome
Stephanie Seneff – an MIT doctor (she has a doctorate in electrical engineering) who thinks that half of kids will have autism by 2032 (which means that they would have been born already…) and that glyphosate causes everything from autism to school shootings and terrorist bombings.
Tim O’Shea – a chiropractor, he speaks at anti-vax conferences and wrote an anti-vaccination book called The Sanctity of Human Blood: Vaccination is not Immunization. Dr. O’Shea does not believe that germs make us sick (germ theory denialism), thinks that vaccines cause peanut allergies, and he sells supplements and seminars.
Andrew Wakefield – his scandal and MMR-autism fraud is well known.
Bob Sears - said measles isn’t deadly in any developed country, neglecting to mention all of the measles deaths in the outbreaks in Europe.
Alex Berenson - what hasn’t Alex Berenson been wrong about???
Del Bigtree - among many other things, Del Bigtree is very wrong that there are no older adults with autism.
Joe Mercola - what was he ever right about???
Weston A. Price - a dentist who believed that root canals triggered disease
What else?
We know what happens to people when they listen to this kind of advice that ends up being wrong.
They can get sick, and they can die.
And that leaves us with just one question…
Why is anyone still listening to any of these folks?!?
Don't foget Dr. Robert Malone who claims he invented mRNA vaccines and that they have all sorts of adverse effects. Despite only having one year of internship, no residency, fellowship or board certification / eligibility, he claims he was appointed as an Assistant Professor of Mediicne and Founder / Director of the Gene Therapy Program at UC-Davis in the early 1990s. There was no formal GTP at UCD at that time.