The Consequences of Anti-Vax
The United States recently experienced measles outbreaks in places like New York City and Illinois. In 2000, the US declared that the virus had been eradicated. Whether you want to admit it or not, it is scientifically proven that this is the result of the anti-vax movement taking off. After going to countries where measles are widespread, such as Israel or Ukraine, unvaccinated people in the US are getting measles. Then, once those people come back to the US, they spread the virus to others who are unvaccinated. It’s just a fact that people who are not vaccinated are spreading these viruses and other diseases that we have already considered “eliminated.”
Because of this, there have been recent situations such as the story of a 6-year old boy in Oregon who was playing on his farm in rural Oregon when he got a minor cut on hisforehead which wasn’t even bad enough to stop playing. However, all was not well. Since his parents were against all vaccines, he did not have any. Six days after getting this little cut on his forehead, he was in the hospital for involuntary muscle spasms, trouble breathing, and lockjaw. He was immediately diagnosed at Oregon Health and Science University with Tetanus, the first case of the infection in thirty years. Sadly, that was not the worst news for the boy and his family. He spent the next fifty-seven days in the hospital, kept in a dark room with earplugs to stop his spasms, and receiving fluids through an IV because he could no longer open his mouth. The hospital bill amounted to an insane $800,000 as opposed to a $63.99 Tetanus shot. The boy almost died, but sadly, the experience did not change his parents minds. They still believe that vaccines are bad for their son, opting for him to not get a tetanus shot after the ordeal.
There are so many stories like the one presented above, and tech companies like Amazon, Youtube, and Facebook have had enough. In three separate campaigns, each of these major online platforms have attempted to hide or outright ban anti-vaccination media and propaganda, citing that they do not want to be the sources for the spread of misinformation and lies.
When talking to people about this development, I have heard one major outcry: “What about Freedom of Speech!” So, I would like to remind anyone who thought that, what the First Amendment means. We like to talk about freedom of speech a lot. We say it to our friends when they disagree with us, we say it to our parents when they cut us off, we say it in so many contexts, but none of them are right. The First Amendment actually only protects us from the government censoring us, not each other. The Constitution and Bill of Rights are designed to protect the people from the government, and that is all. Private companies are not, in fact, part of the government, and as such they should not be subject to the first amendment. They are allowed to censor the platform however they want and make whatever choices they want for what the people see.
Powerful social media and tech companies refusing to spread misinformation is such an important development in the anti-vax movement of today. I think that people were afraid of speaking out against these ideas in a public way out of fear of “what if my friend is an anti-vaxxer and I hurt their feeling,” and similar mentalities. However, I think we need to stop treating easily disproved ideas as equal. We need to actually stand up to people who believe this false information. And if you are reading this article and think that it is just some big company trying to pull the wool over everyone's eyes, then I regret to inform you that you are wrong and the consequences are life-threatening. These are real life situations with real life consequences and ignoring the truth will cause more young and innocent lives to be lost.
By Owen Stone