Anti Vaxx movement growing in Canada

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ASPartOfMe
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14 Sep 2021, 7:51 am



The U.S. anti-vax movement is contaminating Canada
Peter Hotez MD PhD is a Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology at Baylor College of Medicine where he is also the Texas Children’s Hospital Chair in Tropical Pediatrics. His latest book is Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-science (Johns Hopkins University Press)

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Well, it has finally happened. News this week of widespread and disruptive anti-vaccine protests at Canadian medical centres means that America’s destructive, self-defeating and totally nonsensical anti-vaccine movement has begun crossing the border.

As a pediatrician, vaccine-scientist and parent of an adult daughter with autism and intellectual disabilities, I have had a front-row seat to America’s anti-vaccine movement for the last two decades. I’m also a lead target, and sometimes known as the ‘OG Villain’ for writing the book, Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism a few years back.

When I learned of this, I had to Google it — OG means ‘original gangster.’ My gangster status has since accelerated,when our research group at Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine developed a global health COVID-19 vaccine now being scaled for production in India and Indonesia.

Not being vaccinated against COVID-19 became a new badge of allegiance to conservatism. The result? Devastating consequences. Roughly 100,000 unvaccinated Americans have lost their lives to COVID since this spring.

Today, the anti-vaccine movement has three major drivers. One of them is anti-science aggression from the far-right, as highlighted above. However, there are also at least a dozen non-governmental groups identified by the Centre for Countering Digital Hate as responsible for approximately two-thirds of the anti-vaccine disinformation in America.

The third is Russian propaganda, which promotes anti-vaccine disinformation as a means to destabilize the U.S. and other democratic countries, possibly including Canad

I hope things do not degenerate further in Canada. I love the Canadian people. My grandfather, Morris (aka Maurice, aka Moishe) Goldberg, grew up in the Jewish Quarter of Paris, but later immigrated to Montreal in the 1920s, well ahead of the Nazi occupation in France. I often say, the only reason I exist is because of the goodness of the Canadian people who accepted my grandfather. In return, I’m a life-long Habs fan, and there aren’t too many of those here in Texas.

But I wish you the best in dealing with what is to come. Watch out for it. In the U.S., anti-vaccine groups can become extremely aggressive and hostile, and increasingly they are imbued with far-right extremist ideologies and zeal. They also love their Nazi imagery.

Good luck. You didn’t deserve this.


I would advise any Canadians to schedule their regular checkups, and elective surgeries now. Same if you have been putting off seeing the doctor for something that has been bothering you. If this movement grows and there is a surge it becomes a triage situation.


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Last edited by ASPartOfMe on 14 Sep 2021, 8:13 am, edited 3 times in total.

King0fSpades
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14 Sep 2021, 7:57 am

Sorry Canada for my country's contagious stupidity. :(


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funeralxempire
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14 Sep 2021, 9:07 am

King0fSpades wrote:
Sorry Canada for my country's contagious stupidity. :(


Canadians are plenty capable of being dumb without it being America's fault. These people would be just as ignorant and prone to believing conspiratorial nonsense without influence from the south of the border.


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Nades
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14 Sep 2021, 9:41 am

Everyone should get their vaccines. Being "ultra-vax" is also bad for your health though.



King0fSpades
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14 Sep 2021, 9:44 am

funeralxempire wrote:
King0fSpades wrote:
Sorry Canada for my country's contagious stupidity. :(


Canadians are plenty capable of being dumb without it being America's fault. These people would be just as ignorant and prone to believing conspiratorial nonsense without influence from the south of the border.

Oh... well. Then I guess Canadians are also capable of blaming other countries for their own problems, just like us Americans do. :mrgreen:


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Mr Reynholm
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14 Sep 2021, 1:01 pm

Canadians need to realize that their superiors in government know what is best for them.



funeralxempire
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14 Sep 2021, 1:28 pm

Listening to experts is for NPCs.
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ASPartOfMe
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14 Sep 2021, 2:37 pm

funeralxempire wrote:
King0fSpades wrote:
Sorry Canada for my country's contagious stupidity. :(


Canadians are plenty capable of being dumb without it being America's fault. These people would be just as ignorant and prone to believing conspiratorial nonsense without influence from the south of the border.

The opinion piece that Americans are polluting Canadians minds was written by an American.


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King0fSpades
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14 Sep 2021, 2:50 pm

ASPartOfMe wrote:
funeralxempire wrote:
King0fSpades wrote:
Sorry Canada for my country's contagious stupidity. :(


Canadians are plenty capable of being dumb without it being America's fault. These people would be just as ignorant and prone to believing conspiratorial nonsense without influence from the south of the border.

The opinion piece that Americans are polluting Canadians minds was written by an American.


Has there ever been a more ethnocentric nation of people than the US? :nerdy:


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funeralxempire
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14 Sep 2021, 4:02 pm

ASPartOfMe wrote:
funeralxempire wrote:
King0fSpades wrote:
Sorry Canada for my country's contagious stupidity. :(


Canadians are plenty capable of being dumb without it being America's fault. These people would be just as ignorant and prone to believing conspiratorial nonsense without influence from the south of the border.

The opinion piece that Americans are polluting Canadians minds was written by an American.


And as a Canadian I'm saying they're full of dookie.

Neither Americans nor Canadians should blame America for Canadian crazies. The crazies have been here all along and they'd find their own conspiracies to get worked up over if there weren't globally popular ones to adopt.


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kraftiekortie
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14 Sep 2021, 4:11 pm

Many, many countries happen to be more "ethnocentric" than the US.

"American," if truth be told, is actually not an ethnic group.

I hate to use the example of Rwanda, 1994----but this was the ultimate expression of "ethnocentricity." Same with the Nazis.



King0fSpades
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14 Sep 2021, 5:01 pm

kraftiekortie wrote:
Many, many countries happen to be more "ethnocentric" than the US.

"American," if truth be told, is actually not an ethnic group.

I hate to use the example of Rwanda, 1994----but this was the ultimate expression of "ethnocentricity." Same with the Nazis.



I guess you have a point, but it feels like many Americans (myself included at times) fail to understand the rest of the world or other people's cultures outside of their own little bubble...


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lostonearth35
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15 Sep 2021, 1:25 am

I now officially wish I was never born.



Tross
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15 Sep 2021, 1:33 am

funeralxempire wrote:
ASPartOfMe wrote:
funeralxempire wrote:
King0fSpades wrote:
Sorry Canada for my country's contagious stupidity. :(


Canadians are plenty capable of being dumb without it being America's fault. These people would be just as ignorant and prone to believing conspiratorial nonsense without influence from the south of the border.

The opinion piece that Americans are polluting Canadians minds was written by an American.


And as a Canadian I'm saying they're full of dookie.

Neither Americans nor Canadians should blame America for Canadian crazies. The crazies have been here all along and they'd find their own conspiracies to get worked up over if there weren't globally popular ones to adopt.
TBH, I think both sides of the argument hold some truth, but that's a good point. Crazy Canadians would be crazy without American help. They just happened to adopt the US's brand of crazy, because something about it is alluring to crazies worldwide. :roll:

Well, the anti-vaxxers are now officially barred from certain establishments where I live. I look forward to the next time I go to a restaurant, and hope there are anti-vaxxers making a scene there so I can wave at them through the window or from the patio while I enjoy my meal. If that's not possible, at least I can tell them to get out of my way so I can enter. 8)



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15 Sep 2021, 2:26 am

funeralxempire wrote:
Neither Americans nor Canadians should blame America for Canadian crazies. The crazies have been here all along and they'd find their own conspiracies to get worked up over if there weren't globally popular ones to adopt.


What's your PCM username and flair?


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aspiemike
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16 Sep 2021, 11:22 am

So what was wrong with protesting in front of a city hall or parliament building like other protestors did previously? Or were they afraid of being called a bunch of yahoos by Doug Ford?

Protesting in front of hospitals or clinics is just stupid.


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