Anti-Vaccination Websites

Did you know it is actually quite difficult to find anti-vaccine websites if you simply type “anti-vaccination information” into Google. Also, if you ask Microsoft copilot to provide you with sites that are anti-vaccination it will tell you that it cannot help you as it does not spread misinformation. Personally I had no idea that anti-vaccination information was censored to that degree. However, if you hop on to social media sites such as TikTok or Instagram you can much more easily access anti-vaccine info. The majority of anti-vaccination information on TikTok is stories of how loved ones have died shortly after receiving a vaccine, a relation to God as the reasoning behind not getting vaccinated, or videos of the US president Donald Trump denouncing the need for vaccinations. Videos like these are scary, especially the people who share horror stories of death and blame it on the vaccine. This invokes fear in people who are simply hearing a story with no scientific data and can cause them to make fear based instead of education based judgements when it comes to vaccines.

Screenshot from Google search “Anti-Vaccination information”

Vaccine Choice Canada – This is the first anti vaccination site I found. But be careful, it is disguised as a site that shares vaccine information, seemingly no different than any other agency in Canada that provides vaccine info. But once you look closer you’ll realize that this site is promoting anti-vaccinators. This is the first statement from the website. “While public health authorities invariably contend that “vaccines are safe” and “vaccines save lives”, it is impossible for them to prove these statements. The most they can do is offer epidemiological data for specific cases which don’t necessarily reflect what happens in the population as a whole or truly represent cause and effect.” So in my opinion this is a crazy thing to put on the internet. If you know anything about science you would know that epidemiological data is meant to reflect the population and a cause and effect relationship is almost impossible to establish in any sort of circumstance as there is almost always confounding variables.

Moving on we have the link between autism and vaccines! “Independent research has provided significant evidence that the mercury-containing preservative, thimerosal; aluminum adjuvants; MMR vaccine; and the colossal number of vaccines injected within a very short time span, all contribute to the total burden of autism.” What they fail to mention here is that mercury is found in many many items around the house and in larger amounts, so we actually can’t blame the mercury in vaccines for autism. The website then goes on to share a horror story on how a healthy baby got vaccinated and began having seizures and then eventually was diagnosed with an earlier for of autism. This just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, there is no way to prove there is a cause and effect relationship between those three variables.

This website has an entire page linking vaccines to a number of illnesses including, anaphlaxysis, allergies, asthma, neurological injuries, cancer, infertility, gulf war syndrome, pregnancy risk, obesity, diabetes, and sudden infant death syndrome. In my opinion if vaccines were legitimately linked in a cause and effect relationship with these diseases the population probably would not be readily accepting vaccines in the way that they currently are.

Dr. Mona, a pediatric doctor, debunking the myth that autism is related to vaccines. She includes how the myth started in the 1800s, why the myth persists, what science actually says, and how this myth is harmful.

OpenVAERS – the next website I looked at was the American site OpenVAERS. This site presents data fro mthe U.S. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System in a way that distorts its meaning and fuels anti-vaccine narratives. This site has been debunked by numerous expert websites including FactCheck.org, John Hopkins, and Science-Based Medicine.

an infographic comparing VAERS and OpenVAERS, showing differences in data verification, causality, and public health impact — Infographic created with Canva

OpenVAERS misuses data in a variety of ways. It displays raw data without context, all while highlighting death and injury as caused by vaccines. It is important to note that the VAERS reporting system in general uses passive surveillance and accepts unverified reports from anyone who chooses to report. Further they imply causation instead of correlation which is a huge no no in the the medical field. The next strategy they use is putting selective emphasis on certain cases that strengthen thier claims and fuel anti-vaccine narratives.

Graph from OpenVAERS depicting reports of death (red) vs non COVID vaccine deaths (blue).

So in summary, is seems like the general thing that anti-vaccination sites do is use a single case story and blow it up to support their cause. Oh, and they love to say its a cause and effect relationship rather than a correlation. From this I would say that when gathering vaccines information be careful of believing horror stories that aren’t backed up by reputable or government sources. Also critically analyze the information you are being fed.