Anti-Vaxxer

Teen Son of Anti-Vaxxer Mother Gets Vaccinated and Inspires Others

An Ohio teen has inspired others by going against the wishes of his mother and getting vaccinated.

Ethan Lindenberger, an 18-year-old high school senior, went on Reddit in November seeking advice on how to get vaccinated because "my parents think vaccines are some kind of government scheme," he wrote. His mother believes shots to prevent various diseases and viruses are linked to autism, he added.

As a legal adult, Lindenberger said he wanted to protect himself from measles, the HPV virus and hepatitis. And so he went on his own to get vaccinated and later updated his post to reflect his decision to ignore the wishes of his mom. His dad, he said in the update, didn't say much about it because he was now 18.

Other teens began writing in, sharing the same feelings. And in recent weeks, as Lindenberger began speaking publicly about the issue while an outbreak of measles has been reported in 10 states, older children are questioning the wisdom of their anti-vaxxer parents who didn't allow them to be inoculated.  

This month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 101 cases of measles, 55 of them in Washington state, the heart of the outbreak. Nearly all of the cases involve children younger than 10 whose parents kept them from being vaccinated, according to health officials. 

Now, teens are asking how they can get immunized if their parents are opposed to it. Lindenberger said he has been deluged with queries from contemporaries asking what to do. He never tells someone what they should do, he said. Rather, he advises them to do what they think is best, and to wait until they are 18 before deciding. 

"I've heard from kids my age who don't want to go behind their parents' backs and are afraid of getting kicked out or upsetting their parents," he told InsideEdition.com. 

Ohio is one of 18 states that allows non-medical exemptions from vaccination requirements for children attending public school. Washington state, the site of the worst current outbreak, has a "mature minor" provision that allows teens who demonstrate enough maturity to oversee their own health care, including getting vaccinated without their parents' permission. In Oregon, a teen 15 or older can be immunized without parental approval.

Measles, which is a viral infection, causes fever, sore throat and skin rash. In rare cases, measles can progress to acute encephalitis, which often results in permanent brain damage, according to medical experts. It also can cause fatal respiratory and neurological complications. 

Religious reasons are allowed in all but three states for opting out of required vaccines.

Fear of vaccines has gripped many areas in America. According to the Pew Research Center, one in 10 believe at least some vaccines are not safe. Another 7 percent aren't sure if they are healthy.

The unease stems in part from a now-debunked 1998 article by Andrew Wakefield published in The Lancet medical journal. Wakefield linked vaccinations for measles, mumps and rubella to the appearance of autism. The article was later retracted, its research discredited, and Wakefield was stripped of his medical license. 

Nonetheless, vaccination conspiracy theories abound, with some attesting that big pharma pushes vaccinations to inflate its profits, or that the government backs immunization to infringe the rights of individuals. Others have an environmental focus, namely that vaccines pump harmful substances into the bodies of children.

Such stories are boosted by celebrities, including former talk show host Jenny McCarthy, who espouses a possible link between certain vaccines and increased rates of autism and has established Generation Rescue, a national organization that helps families dealing with autism. In 2012, then-reality TV star Donald Trump chimed in on Twitter, saying, "Massive combined inoculations to small children is the cause for big increase in autism."

Health experts say medical evidence overwhelmingly shows that vaccines save lives. The CDC now devotes a section of its website to demonstrating immunizations do not cause autism. 

The government research posted there helped Lindenberger form his decision. He underwent his first round of immunizations in December and will undergo a second bout in the coming weeks.

"I said very calmly that I planned to get vaccinated because it was very important to me," he said. His parents said they couldn't stop him, now that he was a legal adult and his mother even allowed him to use her health insurance to pay for the shots.

Like him, other teens have taken to Reddit, saying they, too, want to be immunized but their parents won't allow it. An 18-year-old female wrote, "My mom is, and has always been, and anti-vaxxer, so going through middle and high school I never had a single one ... I have never been, and will never be, against vaccines, but as a child, I had no choice. Now that I am an adult, I am making my own decisions to get vaccinated to protect myself."

Dorit Reiss, a professor at the University of California Hastings College of Law and a vocal advocate of vaccination, said she knows of about 30 teens who are trying to get vaccinated despite their parents' objections.

Reiss has questioned whether parents who don't vaccinate their children should be held legally liable. She supported a 2015 California bill that abolished personal choice as an exemption for vaccinating children attending public schools.

"A lot of kids won't go public on social media because they don't want their parents to see it," she told InsideEdition.com. "That's the good thing about Reddit, because these kids can talk about it anonymously."

Things have calmed down at the Lindenberger house, Ethan said. "My mom and I still love each other despite disagreeing with each other. We're kind," he said. "I think people are set in their ways. What she has seen, she has really been swayed by. She's not going to change."

And neither, Ethan said, will he.

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Anti-Vaxxer Larry Cook Has Weaponized Facebook Ads in War Against Science

With more than 50 people infected by a measles outbreak in Washington state, health officials are working to convince parents to get their children vaccinated.

A thousand miles away, a man named Larry Cook is trying to undermine all that.

Two weeks ago, he launched a GoFundMe campaign, the stated goal of which is to “help parents start to question the safety and efficacy of vaccines which will in turn help them realize why vaccine mandates could be problematic for their children.”

His weapon of choice in this war against established science: Facebook ads.

Cook, according to Facebook’s own tallies, has been the No. 1 anti-vaxxer buying ads on the site since it began tracking campaigns in May, spending $1,776 in the last nine months to boost his posts.

For the latest campaign, Cook boasts that he will be targeting a specific group, namely moms in Washington State, where public health workers are struggling to keep the outbreak under control.

Cook runs a group called Stop Mandatory Vaccination, which he freely admits is not a nonprofit organization. In fact, its website contains a notice that donations go “directly” to his bank account and funds “may be used to pay [his] personal bills.”

He declined to disclose to The Daily Beast how much of the money goes toward his personal expenses and how much goes to anti-vaxxer campaigns.

“I’m a full-time activist,” he said in a phone interview. “I receive donations but it’s not even remotely enough.”

“I don’t need to report any income—we are in a capitalist society and anyone can raise and spend how we want.”

— Larry Cook

He added: “I’m not a non-profit. I don’t need to report any income—we are in a capitalist society and anyone can raise and spend how we want.”

GoFundMe records show Cook has raised $79,900 for four separate anti-vax messaging campaigns. One of them, which raked in $56,636, was earmarked for the creation of his website and interviews with parents who believe their children were injured by vaccines.

The most recent GoFundMe campaign, aimed at women in Washington state, had collected $7,704 as of this week. A campaign last year based on the outrageous and unsubstantiated claim that the medical community is covering up baby deaths—he actually referred to it as the “slaughter” of children—raised $12,379.

As The Daily Beast’s Pay Dirt reported earlier this week, anti-vaxxer ads have a wide reach. More than 147 promoted posts by seven Facebook accounts were viewed between 1.6 million and 5.2 million times. Just like Cook’s latest campaign, they overwhelmingly targeted women over the age of 25.

Facebook subsequently announced that it is exploring ways to combat the prevalence of anti-vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories on its platform.

Dr. Tara Smith, professor of epidemiology at Kent State University, said Cook’s “paid boosts” on Facebook spread harmful and inaccurate ideas.

“What I usually see are stories that he provides of vaccine injury—they usually involve babies who die within 24-48 hours after getting a vaccine. However, If you dig into these cases, you’ll usually find that an unsafe sleep event happened—where the baby was in the parents’ bed, a car seat, or a rocker,” she said.

“These [stories] really frighten parents, and when they get shared, they increase parent fear and anxiety regarding vaccination.”

One such ad by Cook highlighting a death was banned by U.K.’s Advertising Standards Authority late last year for featuring language that was ruled “misleading” and unsubstantiated.

Cook makes clear on his website that he is using the children’s deaths to fuel fundraising.

“The vaccine death stories receive between 12 and 35 click[s] to my website for every dollar spent, with averages at around 18 clicks per dollar spent,” Cook wrote on one GoFundMe update. “This means—on average—for every dollar you donate to this campaign you are helping to reach and ENGAGE 18 NEW PARENTS about the dangers of vaccination, which is an excellent metric!”

Cook’s Facebook ads can bring in money in another way: they push traffic to his website, which contains a variety of online affiliate-program links and ads for books and videos tied to the anti-vax movement.

The website initially did not feature a Federal Trade Commission disclosure about earning “money or products” by mentioning “companies or links,” but after The Daily Beast asked Cook about it, it was added.

The website features paid “membership” tiers, which cost between $4.95 per month and $299.99 a month, though it’s not clear exactly what the money buys.

Cook said questions about his fundraising and where the money goes aren’t “valid.”

Daniel Hale, a supporter and donor, told The Daily Beast he has no concerns about financial transparency.

“I have no issue with what I have him. No strings. This guy has been informative and has kept me informed,” he said. “I have not had any concern. I might have given him $1,000 or $100 in the past.”

“Does every gift need an audit? It’s ridiculous.”

Hale believes his son’s autism is linked to a vaccine; however, numerous studies have ruled out any link between vaccines and autism. Cook also thinks he suffered an injury from a vaccine, though he conceded that he has not consulted a medical professional about it.

“I don’t blame these parents, but I do blame people like Larry Cook who take advantage of grieving parents.”

— Tara Smith, epidemiology professor

Smith, the epidemiology professor, said Cook uses “anecdotal” incidents in his advertisements, video posts on social media, and articles on his website to back claims that are not scientifically supported.

“Vaccinated babies are actually less likely to die of SIDS [Sudden Infant Death Syndrome],” she said in reference to one of the Facebook ad campaigns. “In addition, we don’t know if all of [the stories] are true… There’s no autopsy, no validation, no evidence to the cause of these deaths are shown to be vaccination.”

Cook, on the other hand, insists that data showing vaccines have saved lives are “definitely conjecture.”

“There’s no proof of that, that [vaccines have] saved lives,” he said. “No one cared about measles in 1950s, now everyone has to be scared of it.” In fact, government records show about 500 people died of measles in the U.S. every year during the 1950s.

Smith said Cook is skilled at turning tragedies into propaganda.

“Vaccines give these parents something to focus their anger and grief, and they feel it's a just cause… but it’s contrary to science and damaging to children overall,” she said.

“I don’t blame these parents, but I do blame people like Larry Cook who take advantage of grieving parents.”

Lawmaker Urges Facebook, Google To Stop Anti-Vaxxer Content

A US congressman is pushing Facebook and Google to consider cracking down on anti-vaccination content circulating over their platforms.

On Thursday, US rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) sent a letter to both companies, urging them to take action against "misinformation" from the anti-vaxxer movement. He's worried that Google and Facebook have been pushing the controversial content to parents through search results and video recommendations.

"The algorithms which power these services are not designed to distinguish quality information from misinformation or misleading information, and the consequences of that are particularly troubling for public health issues," Schiff writes in his letter, noting the recent measels outbreak in Washington state.

Schiff sent the letter after The Guardian published a story on how anti-vaccination content can spread over the internet with the help of Facebook, and Google's YouTube service. On Facebook, for instance, you can easily find anti-vaxxer groups with a simple search.

Schiff is concerned people will also search the same platforms for advice on getting vaccinations for their children only to be served up scientifically inaccurate claims. "If a concerned parent consistently sees information in their YouTube recommendations that casts doubt on the safety or efficacy of vaccines, it could cause them to disregard the advice of their children's physicians and public health experts," the congressman added.

In his letter, Schiff frames the whole issue as a public health concern. But companies such as Google and Facebook have had to balance fighting misinformation with protecting free speech. This was underscored last year when both companies faced criticism for acting too slow to remove videos from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his controversial show Infowars. When Jones' content was finally pulled, other critics, particularly conservative commentators, accused Facebook and YouTube of practicing online censorship.

Schiff's letter doesn't explicitly call for Google and Facebook to shut down the anti-vaxxer content, but it does seek to pressure both companies into addressing what the congressman calls a "growing problem." His letter goes on to request that both companies supply information on their current approach to stopping misinformation related to vaccinations. Schiff also wants to know if providing a platform for medically inaccurate information violates either company's terms or service.

YouTube declined to comment on Schiff's letter. But the video-sharing site told PCMag it's tweaking the company's recommendation system to promote fewer conspiracy videos and other "borderline" content. In addition, YouTube has been refining its search algorithms to surface more video clips from credible sources.

Facebook said it's taken steps to reduce the distribution of health-related misinformation over the platform, but added, "we know we have more to do."

"We're currently working on additional changes that we'll be announcing soon," the company said in its email.