Frontlist | Books & T-shirts pushing anti-vaccination messages

Frontlist | Books & T-shirts pushing anti-vaccination messages
on Dec 09, 2020

As countries around the globe prepare to inoculate their citizens against the coronavirus, a search for vaccine on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and eBay finds an array of books and T-shirts casting doubt on the science behind vaccines. A search for vaccine on Amazon.com yielded results leading with two books promoting anti-vaccination theories and an anti-vaccination T-shirt. Searches on eBay and Barnes & Noble produced similar results. A book authored by Thomas Cowan, a physician who contends 5G wireless technology is behind the ongoing pandemic, tops the results on Barnes & Noble's site. Meanwhile, on Amazon, an anti-vaccination book by pediatrician Paul Thomas tops the site's vaccinations category. A paperback promoting a vaccine-free childhood is the first result to pop up on eBay. First reported by Bloomberg News, the search results play into worries among medical experts that anti-vaccination views might encourage people to decline shots to protect them against COVID-19, which has killed more than 284,000 Americans. The World Health Organization listed vaccine hesitancy among the top 10 threats to global health in 2019. A poll conducted by Ipsos in October of 18,000 adults from 15 countries found that 27% said they would refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Resistance to vaccines is nothing new and has been on the rise for decades, aided by celebrities and politicians, such as Jenny McCarthy and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Before entering the White House, President Donald Trump repeatedly asserted an unproven connection between childhood vaccinations and autism.