Below, we have compiled a brief overview of frequent anti-vaccine speakers:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Mr. Kennedy is the director of Children’s Health Defense, an organization that spends much of its time discrediting the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Mr. Kennedy often misstates or exaggerates facts about vaccines and their safety. In mid-2019, other members of the Kennedy family spoke out against Mr. Kennedy’s vaccine work.
Dr. Andrew Wakefield
Dr. Wakefield first suggested a link between measles-containing vaccines and autism in a 1998 paper in the medical journal, The Lancet. Investigative journalist Brian Deer later discovered Wakefield had committed several ethical violations in the development and promotion of that study. First, Wakefield did not enroll proper control patients. Instead, he gave children at his son’s birthday party £5 to give a blood sample. Second, he did not disclose the hundreds of thousands of pounds he received from a lawyer who wanted to file a class action lawsuit on behalf of parents who believed their children had developed autism as a result of the combined measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine. Third, as Wakefield encouraged parents across the UK and the world to separate the MMR vaccine components for their children, he did not disclose that he had a patent pending on a single measles vaccine. Finally, Wakefield altered data in the study to fit his theory that measles-containing vaccines caused autism.
Now, Wakefield has turned to filmmaking. He is the director and producer of both VAXXED and 1986: The Act, films that call the safety of vaccines into question.
Del Bigtree
Del Bigtree is a TV producer who helped produce Wakefield’s movie VAXXED. After the release of that film, Bigtree and others founded the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) to continue promoting the idea that the government is concealing information about the safety of vaccines. He hosts a weekly online show called The HighWire with Del Bigtree. The show was recently removed from YouTube for violating its content standards. A Washington Post article discovered ICAN is funded primarily by a New York couple, Bernard and Lisa Selz, who have also funded Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s films.
Dr. Sherri Tenpenny
According to Vaxopedia, Dr. Tenpenny was formerly certified in emergency medicine, but “now sells DVDs and supplements on her website, speaks at chiropractic health events, and provides holistic medical care. In a rant about freedom of choice in vaccination, she talks about General Robert E. Lee,the extinction of humanity, and about slavery and eight veils that must be pierced if you want to see what is really going on in the world – that the Illuminati and other secret organizations control us and that they are being controlled by time traveling dragons, lizards, and aliens.”
Dr. Tim O’Shea
Dr. O’Shea is a chiropractor who wrote the book, The Sanctity of Human Blood: Vaccination is not Immunization. According to Vaxopedia, Dr. O’Shea “does not believe that germs make us sick (germ theory denialism), thinks that vaccines cause peanut allergies, and he sells supplements and seminars.”
Theresa Wrangham
Ms. Wrangham is executive director of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), one of the oldest anti-vaccine groups in the U.S. NVIC was formed in the 1980s by parents who believed their children had been injured by the whole cell pertussis vaccine. Over the years, they have suggested vaccines cause a wide range of health conditions, including HIV.
Lori Gregory
Ms. Gregory is Dr. Wakefield’s filmmaking partner. She is CEO of 7th Chakra Films and is director and producer of 1986: The Act. It is her first film credit according to IMDB. Her “Mom Street Journal” Twitter account covers anti-vaccine misinformation and other conspiracy theories.
Dr. Jack Wolfson
Dr. Wolfson came to national attention during the 2015 measles outbreak originating in Southern California. He claimed measles was benign and called women who vaccinate their children “bad mothers.” He is a cardiologist who tried to open a school for unvaccinated children with his wife, who is a chiropractor.
Dr. James Neuenschwander
Dr. Neuenschwander is an emergency medicine doctor who runs the Bio Energy Medical Center in Michigan. The center provides treatments such as homeopathy as well as autism “treatments” for children which the FDA has warned can be dangerous and ineffective. He was fined by the Michigan Board of Medicine for his treatment of a woman with breast cancer. He discontinued her treatment against her oncologist’s wishes and prescribed hormone replacement therapy even though it was counter-indicated for her condition.
Britney Valas
Ms. Valas is the development director for anti-vaccine organization ICAN (see Del Bigtree above).
Dr. Toby Rogers
Dr. Rogers has a PhD in political economy from an Australian university. He believes “toxins” such as vaccines cause autism and has founded a group to pressure policymakers to ban or restrict these substances. He is known among his supporters for his enthusiastic use of Twitter.
Bishop Joseph Strickland
Bishop Strickland, in the Tyler, Texas Catholic diocese, has questioned whether the methods of developing a COVID-19 vaccine are ethical according to Catholic beliefs. He has called on Catholics to reject any vaccine that was developed using aborted fetal cells, despite the Vatican’s pronouncement that these vaccines should be used to save lives until other vaccine alternatives are available.