Many of the most prominent anti-vaccine advocates in the United States joined in marches protesting police violence against African-Americans. The protests were organized in many of the largest cities in the US after several police officers were not indicted in questionable killings of unarmed African-American men.
“After the CDC Whistleblower scandal, many of us became galvanized to do whatever we could to help the African-American community,” said prominent anti-vaccine advocate Louis Hou Tabikus, referring to a scandal where the CDC was accused of hiding data that showed the MMR vaccine was a risk factor for autism in African-American boys.
“Many people thought that our outrage over the CDC scandal was because it involved vaccines,” Mr. Tabikus told The Spudd. “While that was a small part of the story, all of us in the vaccine-safety movement are most highly motivated by our desire to do whatever it takes to help the African-American community. The videos we made likening the CDC story to the Tuskegee syphilis experiment reflected our profound sense of solidarity with this persecuted minority. We recognize that police brutality is one of the biggest challenges this community faces. If we stood up for them with the CDC Whistleblower scandal, but failed to do so with this issue, people would think that we were simply anti-vaxxers grasping at any straw we could to discredit vaccines. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
