Someone who does their own "research" and "draws their own conclusions" about vaccination if that research consists only of confirmation of their pre-existing biases and drawing their own conclusion means subscribing to whatever fearmongering conspiracy is popular at that particular moment
John thinks that vaccines cause autism after using anti-vaxxer sites as his sole source of information
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Someone who chooses to ignore decades of scientific research and statistics that prove the efficacy, safety, and success of modern vaccinations.
Anti-vaxxers are complete loonies that believe in conspiracy theories, and base their beliefs on
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Someone who completely rejects science in favor of endangering themselves and others with preventable diseases.
Anti-vaxxers are dangerous idiots.
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A person who, because of a lack of understanding of immunology, biology, chemistry, or just science in general, refuses to allow vaccination of themselves or their children.
Often talk about vaccines causing autism and/or other diseases, despite the fact that most evidence pointing to that has been widely discredited and retracted.
Will resort to flinging insults when questioned. May say that you need to "do your own research" (just not in a lab); that doctors and scientists are all bought out or are "shills" for "Big Pharma" or the government, and are planning on killing everyone; or that they are the only ones that are "AWAKE1!1!!1!!".
Only rarely show sympathy to anyone but themselves. Slight chance of germ theory denial. If sighted, do not approach: often armed and contagious.
Despite an enormous body of evidence that vaccinations have caused a decrease in polio outbreaks from 350,000 in 1988 to some 416 cases in 2013, anti-vaxxers continue to both deny the efficacy of vaccines and push the discredited idea that vaccines cause autism.
This has caused an increase in the cases of preventable diseases such as measles, including a Disneyland outbreak in early 2015.
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A person that thinks reading made up stuff about vaccines on the internet actually equals research.
The anti-vaxxer had no clue as usual.
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Someone who rejects medical advice and scientific consensus about the efficacy and safety of vaccinations. Typically pairs with anti-government paranoia, anti-corporate sentiment, conspiracy theories, and the "appeal to nature" fallacy. Anti-vaxxers also spawned the movement of autism-trutherism, which claims that autism is caused as a response to adjuvants found in vaccinations.
While there are several common schools of thought among anti-vaxxer circles, specific claims will often change about why vaccinations are harmful. The anti-vaxxer will single out benign ingredients as being particularly toxic regardless of its concentration, or sometimes that inoculation itself is a sham practice and was never necessary. Many anti-vaxxers instead champion "natural immunity," which involves actually contracting the disease that is vaccinated against in hope that they will be less susceptible to it in the future.
Tactics often include the "argument from ignorance," the "appeal to nature," and "begging the question."
My kid got measles from Disneyland because a bunch of unvaccinated kids showed up. Stupid anti-vaxxer parents are killing kids!
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One who spent 20 minutes reading titles from a google search and now believes they are better educated than doctors who spend 10 years combined in medical school and residency. Synonym: Dunning-Kruger.
The anti-vaxxer spent 20 minutes Googling and decided they knew more than doctors who spend their entire lives studying the subject.
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