A group of people opposed to vaccinations has requested that media stop referring to them as "anti-vax." Instead, they would prefer to be called "vaccine risk aware."
On Dec. 1, an anti-vaccine group called the C
A group of people opposed to vaccinations has requested that media stop referring to them as "anti-vax." Instead, they would prefer to be called "vaccine risk aware."
On Dec. 1, an anti-vaccine group called the Crazymothers raised its plea on Twitter and Instagram, asserting that the term anti-vaxxer is "derogatory, inflammatory, and marginalizes both women and their experiences." In response, many social media users chimed in with their own alternative labels for the group, including "plague enthusiasts," "polio fanciers," "pro-disease" and "patient zero."
Dear Media,Please retire the use of the term “Anti-vaxxer.” It is derogatory, inflammatory, and marginalizes both women and their experiences. It is dismissivemy simplistic, highly offensive and largely false. We politely request that you refer to us as the Vaccine Risk Aware. pic.twitter.com/WtAyFOhLuvDecember 1, 2019
In response to this feedback and subsequent media coverage, the Crazymothers posted a screenshot of a HuffPost article along with the hashtag "#IHitANerve."
The Crazymothers' founder, Hillary Simpson, frequently captions posts with the hashtag #DoYourResearch; so, in that spirit, here are the basics about vaccine safety.
Long story short, the main risks to be aware of are those associated with not vaccinating. Decades of research shows that vaccines are safe and effective and that serious side effects are rare.
How do vaccines work?
When invaders such as bacteria or viruses enter the body for the first time, the immune system generates an elite team of proteins called antibodies to help fight off the invasion. Antibodies latch onto unique proteins that hang off the invaders, known as antigens, and either destroy the pathogen themselves or call in other immune cells to help. The immune system remembers how to build these antibodies long after the initial infection clears, enabling the body to fend off those same type of bugs should they ever launch another attack.
Unfortunately, when a completely unfamiliar antigen enters the body, the immune system may take several days to build up its antibody army. Particularly nasty bugs, like the measles virus, can overwhelm the immune system while its defenses are down.
That's why we have vaccines.
Vaccines contain dead or weakened pathogens that cannot cause infection but do kick the immune system into gear. Once the vaccine enters the body, the immune system produces antibodies as if it's fighting an actual infection. If a vaccinated person later encounters the antigen attached to a real microbe, their body already knows how to quickly ramp up its production of the antibodies needed to fight the infection
Over the past two decades, childhood vaccines have saved the lives of 732,000 U.S. children and prevented more than 300 million kids from getting sick, acc