The story of an anti-vaxxer turned science proponent

Whilst we haven’t really delved into the subject [yet] of “anti-vaxxers” – those people who believe child vaccinations are dangerous – the story of Tara Hills provides a good way to briefly touch on the subject.

The anti-vaccine movement is a long running theory that asserts that vaccinations given to children are potentially very dangerous, and can cause serious illness, most popularly autism, and the benefits of being vaccinated – if any –are ultimately negated by the grave health risks. Many theorists also assert that vaccinations given to children are simply unnecessary and are only used today to make money for the pharmaceutical companies that produce them.

However such claims are directly disputed by almost every healthcare body across the world including the NHS (UK) and FDA (US), as well as the vast majority of healthcare professionals.

Because vaccinations are so widely supported within the healthcare industry, the anti-vaccination movement is considered a very controversial fringe conspiracy theory, and one that could potentially be very dangerous to the people who choose to believe it since it leaves children [and adults] vulnerable to deadly diseases that could otherwise be prevented, many of which are contagious and can be contracted by others.

One of those people who supported the anti-vaccine theories was Tara Hills from Canada. Tara decided not to vaccinate the majority of her 7 children, and those that did receive vaccinations were not vaccinated fully, which led to all of her children falling seriously ill.

Tara, like many conspiracy theorists, had a natural distrust towards “big business”. It was her belief that large organisations across the world, including the top pharmaceutical companies (“Big Pharma”), healthcare bodies, the mainstream media and even various governments and politicians were all in on a conspiracy that would expose children to worthless vaccinations that were ultimately redundant.

Because of her distrust, Tara confessed that whilst researching the subject online, she would “exclude all research available from any major, reputable organization.”

Since the majority of information that purports to support the anti-vaccine movement can be found on the Internet, excluding any research simply because it derives from a well-known or reputable organization will ultimately cause a significant degree of confirmation bias, and it’s a phenomena we encounter with plenty of other conspiracy theories as well.

As a result, Tara chose the anti-vaccine route.

When an outbreak of measles hit a nearby neighbourhood, Tara began to rethink her position. But it was too late. All 7 of her children contracted whooping cough, a potentially fatal disease to which there has been a vaccine available for over 70 years. (Ed Update: To clarify, the measles outbreak didn’t cause the whooping cough, it just made Tara rethink her stance on vaccinations.)

The choice could have proven deadly, however luckily her children are all on the road to recovery, albeit have a tough road ahead of them. Tara spoke out on the TheScientificParent.org website about her experience, and how it changed her from an anti-vaxxer to vaccine proponent.

“We stopped because we were scared and didn’t know who to trust … Were these vaccines even necessary in this day and age? Were we unwittingly doing greater harm than help to our beloved children?”

“So much smoke must mean a fire so we defaulted to the ‘do nothing and hope nothing bad happens’ position.”

We’re writing about it here because, just like with many conspiracy theories, Tara’s story follows a near identical pattern that we see with many conspiracy theories or baseless rumours that propagate themselves largely on the Internet.

Having an innate distrust for recognized organisations – a distrust based only on them being well-known, is paramount to confirmation bias, because you effectively ignoring an entire side to the argument. In this case the correct side.

This is what Tara discovered, to her and her children’s detriment. Tara presumably trusted the information that is freely available on the Internet that supports the anti-vaccine movement but information that has largely been debunked by the same organisations that Tara herself admitted to ignoring.

Tara’s story is still on going, but it is good news to hear that her children appear to be recovering. But it is ever so important that we learn important concepts such as confirmation bias and know how to identify it, even if it ourselves who are guilty of committing it.

Ignoring the advice pertaining to vaccinations that is given by the majority of healthcare professionals is simply dangerous, and we hope this story goes some way in highlighting just that.

You can read about Tara’s story at TheScientificParent.org here. It may be a frustrating read for those who vehemently oppose this particular conspiracy movement, but please identify with her story and understand that – although wrong – she was trying to do the best thing for her family.

Do you have any experience with the anti-vaccine movement? Let us know below.