It is true that antivax is the pseudoscience that knows no political boundaries. HOWEVER... 1/ https://t.co/dlY8NyhdAD
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Indeed, it is not inaccurate to conclude that the
@GOP has become the antivax party. At the very least its candidates feel obligated to pander to antivaxers in a way that@TheDemocrats most definitely do not. 3/https://respectfulinsolence.com/2018/10/25/the-republican-party-has-become-the-antivaccine-party …Show this thread -
I have direct experience of this. Until last year's election, my state senator and representative, both
@MIGOP, were antivax. They both regularly sponsored legislation to make measles great again in Michigan. 4/https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/make-measles-great-again-a-case-study-of-the-politicization-of-school-vaccine-requirements-in-michigan …Show this thread -
Both my former state senator
@pjcolbeck and former state representative@Vote_Jeff_Noble also sponsored a bogus "informed consent" bill about "fetal tissue" in vaccines. 5/https://respectfulinsolence.com/2018/06/12/senate-bill-1055-antivaccine-fear-mongering/ …Show this thread -
My former state senator
@pjcolbeck supported the showing of an antivax movie,@TraceAmounts, in our district. 6/https://respectfulinsolence.com/2015/04/28/an-antivaccine-sympathetic-legislator-right-in-my-own-back-yard/ …Show this thread -
A year ago,
@pjcolbeck also wrote a letter to@DetNewsOpinion complaining about a pro-vaccine editorial. In his letter, he laid down antivax tropes aplenty. 7/https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/make-measles-great-again-a-case-study-of-the-politicization-of-school-vaccine-requirements-in-michigan/ …Show this thread -
During the primaries last year, both
@pjcolbeck and@Vote_Jeff_Noble showed up at an antivaccine roundtable held at the local@MIGOP office by@RepKerryB, who was running for Congress to reclaim his seat to represent my district. 8/https://respectfulinsolence.com/2018/08/03/jeff-noble-kerry-bentivolio-host-antivax/ …Show this thread -
Particularly telling was when
@Vote_Jeff_Noble said that the Republicans on the Health Policy Committee are the only ones receptive to vaccine choice initiatives, while the Democrats won’t even consider them and want to “shove vaccines down your throat (or arm).” 9/Show this thread -
Meanwhile, in Texas and other states, well-funded right wing "vaccine choice" groups are doing their best to make measles great again by making nonmedical exemptions to school vaccine mandates easier to obtain and opposing any attempt to toughen requiremesnts for them. 10/
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I'm referring to groups like
@TXforVaxChoice and similar antivax political groups and PACs. 11/https://respectfulinsolence.com/2017/07/07/vaccine-policy-is-becoming-politicized/ …Show this thread -
So, yes, belief in antivax pseudoscience has roughly the same prevalence on the left and the right, but there's a big difference. Right now, in 2019, it isn't the crunchy hippy-dippy lefties who are so strongly promoting antivax beliefs in legislatures. It's right-wingers. 12/
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Only one party,
@GOP, is sympathetic enough to antivax arguments that its candidates now regularly pander to antivaxers and work to pass antivax-friendly legislation, at least at the state level.@TheDemocrats just don't do that. 13/Show this thread -
That's why last year I said to vote as if your children's health depended on it, because it did, given the number of
@GOP antivaxers who were running for office all over the nation. 14/Show this thread -
It's why I was very happy that
@pjcolbeck was term-limited and@SenPolehanki won the election to become my state senator. 15/Show this thread -
Similarly, I was overjoyed that
@MattforMichigan soundly defeated incumbent@Vote_Jeff_Noble and became my state representative. 16/Show this thread -
Meanwhile, I hope that
@GOP someday stops providing a political home for antivaxers. @SGottliebFDA, for example, is very pro-vax, but that's not enough. 17/Show this thread -
And, in fairness, antivaxers are still a minority in
@GOP, but their numbers and influence appear to be growing, thanks to the skill with which antivaxers have conflated freedom, deregulation, and parental rights with their pseudoscience. 18/Show this thread -
If pro-vax conservatives don't push back against the rising tide of antivax pseudoscience in their party, the
@GOP will truly become the antivax party. 19/19Show this thread -
And...as if on cue... 19a/19https://twitter.com/siubhan_h/status/1101925769230446593 …
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End of conversation
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