Anti-Vaccination Propaganda Pops Up in Texas, Arizona, Illinois, and Oregon

An organization against vaccines has put up with billboards in Texas, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon highlighting the “risks and failures” of vaccines. This is misleading for many reasons. The message come from the National Vaccine Information Center, which sounds like legitimate organization, but as Phil Plait at Slate notes, “NVIC is an antivax group, plain and simple. Despite hugely overwhelming tsunami-level amounts of evidence showing no link between vaccines and autism, they still think there is one.”  

So, this uninformed group is spreading misinformation and propaganda, about vaccines under a name that works as a believable source. 

The billboard states “Vaccinations? Know the risks and failures.” This is like putting up a billboard that says, “Airplanes? Know the risks and failures.” Or “Pregnancy? Know the risks and failures.” All are misleading. All contain risks and failures of which the benefits outweigh.

The NVIC spread their message through articles posted on their website, as well as through holding conferences. They have a twitter account with under 1,000 followers so they appear to not be on the cusp of social media success. These billboards have made them and their message even more public and because the billboards look valid, most wont challenge the myths that are spread. On their “Ask 8 Questions” page, the NVIC poses questions which seem to blame vaccines for neurological disorders, severe allergies, and disease. 

The sad thing is that the anti-antivax movement is still very small and receives little attention, judging by the minimal amounts of articles on the subject, and a sizable portion of Americans still do believe vaccine myths and do not know how to research the facts.