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You’re Wrong About Anti-Vaxxers
Why the Image in Your Mind is Probably Inaccurate
When I hear the term “anti-vaxxer,” the associated image in my mind is crystal clear — I picture a green juice-drinking, dairy-free, vegan wellness mama absolutely set on only allowing the most natural things to enter her child's body. Personally, I resonate with this woman. I am 100% inoculated and will vaccinate my hypothetical future children, but still, I’m wary. Despite this, I find myself falling on the, “I’m doing this to keep other people safe” side of the aisle. The optimist in me refuses to believe in the conspiratorial smoke-filled room where politicians and doctors meet to formulate Orwellian plotlines. So, when I think about this granola-eating mama as the ultimate anti-vaxxer, I am right, but I’m also neglecting to see the whole picture. Most people in the United States have a similar association with anti-vaxxers, and they too would be wrong.
While many of us might associate anti-vaxxers or vaccine-hesitancy with the 1990s, its origins can be traced back to the 18th century when people began getting inoculated against smallpox. Perhaps one of the first anti-vaxxers in American history was Deborah Read, Benjamin Franklin’s wife. The couple had a fraught 40-year relationship that ultimately resulted in a seventeen-year estrangement that “stemmed from a disagreement over…
