The pandemic has produced an abundance of medical misinformation, disinformation and
conspiracy theories about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Many of these narratives
appear impervious to scientific evidence and indifferent to the authority of the state.
This has resulted in ‘true believers’ being cast as paranoid and irrational. In this
article, we take a different approach by exploring the cultural appeal of anti-vaccine
conspiracy theories about COVID-19. Drawing on qualitative analysis of two leading figures
of the anti-vaccination movement – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Joseph Mercola – we
demonstrate how these influencers establish authority by staging indignation against a
corrupt scientific establishment and positioning themselves as Truthers offering simple
solutions to complex (wicked) problems. By conceptualising what we refer to as the Truther
Playbook, we examine how anti-vaccine Truthers capitalise on existing grievances and
conditions of low institutional trust to further solidify people’s troubled relationship
with institutional expertise while drawing attention to the structural conditions and
social inequalities that facilitate belief in conspiracy theories. We contend that
conspiracy theories offer not only offer alternative facts and narratives but are
predicated on identification and in-group membership, highlighting the limits of debunking
as a strategy to tackle disinformation.