Teenager secretly vaccinated and explodes anti-conspiracy anti-vax law: "God knows I'm still alive"

One teenager recounted how he was secretly vaccinated against the wishes of his parents, who, he said, were considered anti-vaccine "conspiracy theories", they read on the Internet.

Ethan Lindenberger, 18, asked for help on a Reddit forum, asking what vaccines he should get because he would never have received them because "my parents are a little stupid and do not believe in vaccines". "God knows how I'm still alive," he writes.

After reading the advice and consulting a pastor, the teenager last December visited a health unit in Norwalk, Ohio, and obtained hepatitis A, hepatitis, and hepatitis A vaccines. B, the flu and HPV.

As a child, he missed the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which most states require children to go to school and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend to children to administer it in two doses.

"The long-standing vaccine safety program of the United States closely monitors vaccine safety at all times," the report says.

The teenager said that he had tried to try to show this information to his mother, Jill Wheeler, who had her first two children vaccinated until she discovered it. that she could remove them.

"His answer was simply" that's what they want you to think "," he told NPR. "I'm just blown away, you know, the biggest health organization in the world would be written off with some sort of statement like a conspiracy theory like that."

He added that his mother had been influenced by the disgraced and disgraced former British doctor, Andrew Wakefield, who claimed in the 1990s the existence of a possible link between the MMR vaccine and the regression of the child development and autism. The paper that he co-wrote was removed by The lancet and he was found guilty of professional misconduct after a series of revelations in the media that led to official investigations.

Mr. Wakefield has since rethought the United States, where Donald Trump is one of the advocates of the link between vaccines and autism, despite the findings of the scientists of this government. Mr. Wakefield was among the top four anti-vaccination campaigners who met the Republican candidate at a fundraising event held in Florida in 2016, shortly before the elections.

The 62-year-old, who had sunk into a measles epidemic in 2017 in the Somali community of the United States in Minnesota after visiting and sharing opinion, said last year L & # 39; Independent: "I was discredited in the eyes of those who wanted to see me discredited. In other words, those who had an interest in maintaining the status quo. "

When asked if he still believed there was a link, he replied, "Is there a real case to answer?" Absolutely. Do I believe that vaccines cause autism? Yes. Is the problem as important in the United States? Yes, that's it. "

The vast majority of experts in the field say that Mr Wakefield is wrong and mention no less than 17 studies showing no link between autism and the MMR vaccine.

Neither Mr. Lindenberger nor his mother could be contacted immediately on Monday. She answered the call. His son's actions left a "slap in the face".

"It was like he was spitting on me saying," You do not know anything, I do not trust you. You do not know what you're talking about. You made a bad decision and I will fix it, "she said.

Lindenberger's actions come as Washington State declared a public emergency following a measles outbreak in southern Clark County, which infected at least 53 people, mostly from children. Four other cases have been confirmed in the neighboring county of Multnomah, Oregon. Another case has been identified in King County, which includes Seattle.

Washington and Oregon are among the 17 states that allow children to go to school without being vaccinated because of their personal beliefs. Both state legislatures would have considered amending these laws. One report said that one in four young men attending kindergarten in Washington had not been vaccinated.