His son is dead. And then the anti-vaxers attacked it

The attacks were perpetrated by opponents of the vaccination and this mother, who lives in the Midwest, does not want her name to be used, lest the attention encourage more messages.

Nothing too cruel

Interviews with mothers who have lost their children and with those who spy on anti-vaccination groups reveal a tactic used by anti-vaxers: when a child dies, members of the group sometimes encourage one another others to check their Facebook page. The anti-vaxers then post messages telling parents that they are lying and that their child has never existed, or that the parent has murdered them, or that the vaccines have killed the child, or a combination of these.

Nothing is considered too cruel. Just days after the death of their children, mothers said that social media anti-vaxers called them whores, c-word and killer babies.

The Midwestern mother, who wants to remain anonymous, is not alone.

Jill Promoli, who lives outside of Toronto, lost her son to the flu. She thinks that the anti-vaxers are trying to silence those who can argue the best case for immunization: those whose children have died of vaccine-preventable diseases.

"I know these people are really trying to hurt me, and I understand that's because they want me to stop," she said.

Anti-vaxers respond

Larry Cook, the founder of Stop Mandatory Vaccination, does not deny the existence of such attacks against the mothers of deceased children.

In an email to CNN, he wrote that members of his group make over half a million comments on the group's Facebook page each month.

"Any discussion of parents who lose their children after immunization of these children would be minor, and the number of members speaking privately to parents to voice concerns that vaccines may have played a role in the death "Cook wrote.

"I do not tolerate violent behavior or tone and encourage decorum during the discussion," Cook wrote, adding that anyone[s] in advocacy policies for compulsory immunization where children may be further harmed by government vaccine mandates, one can expect a decline and resistance, along with informed discussion of the risk vaccinal in social media comments. "

Mr. Cook said that some of the more than 160,000 members of his group had been the target of "harassment campaigns" and that "the police actually went to the doors of my members".

He added that he had been threatened and that he had included a screenshot of a private message from Facebook that said: "Finally found where you live. Finally, I will be able to put a bullet in your skin, you're dead. "

Another anti-vaccination leader attributed the publications on the pages of bereaved parents to "infiltrators" who were trying to "create incendiary situations".

"I tell everyone that you should look at the person you are talking to and the interlocutors of this discussion and recognize that they are also caring about children," said Del Bigtree, chief executive of the Informed Consent Action Network.

During the public comment period that took place last month at a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the United States Center for Disease Control, more than a dozen Many people expressed concerns about vaccines. Some said that they or their loved ones had been injured by vaccines.

"My oldest son had a documented illness and a regression after the vaccination," said Jackie Martin-Sebell. "These vaccines are not safe for everyone."

Another speaker, Rilei Cherry, said her son had developed autism as a result of vaccines. "We owe it to our children to really look at the long-term effects of vaccines and to be honest about what might happen to our children," she told the CDC committee.

The mothers

On May 6, 2016, Promoli took her toddlers Jude and her twin brother Thomas for a nap in their home. Jude had a low fever, but he was laughing and singing when he was going to take a nap.

When his mother went to see him two hours later, he was dead. Promoli said the next few weeks were "a living hell".

"Having to arrange funerals and find the ability to take steps to enter a funeral home, make plans and decide on the burial or cremation of your child – it was so horrible", has she said.

When an autopsy revealed that Jude had died of the flu, Promoli began his flu prevention campaign.

It's at this point that online attacks have begun.

Some anti-vaxers told her that she had murdered Jude and invented a story about the flu to conceal his crime. Others said vaccines had killed his son. Some called it the word c.

The worst – those who sometimes made her cry – were the messages that she advocated influenza vaccines so that other children would die from these injections and their parents would be as miserable as she was.

"The first time, I felt really sick because I could not imagine how anyone could make such a terrible claim," said Promoli. "He took me by surprise in his cruelty, what kind of person does that?"

The twisted logic that rests on scientific lies no longer disturbs Promoli so much. She continues her influenza vaccination campaign, persuading Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to publicize his influenza vaccine.

"I had to develop very thick skin," she said.

She said that no matter how many unpleasant messages she has received – and she says she has received hundreds – she will continue her campaign.

"The work we are doing could mean that someone else is not planning a funeral for his toddler, and that's all," she said. .

Other mothers also persevered despite the attacks of anti-vaxers.

Serese Marotta lost his five-year-old son, Joseph, to the flu in 2009 and is now Chief Operating Officer of Families Fighting Flu, a group that promotes flu awareness and prevention, including immunization.

In 2017, she released a video on the eighth anniversary of her son's death to highlight the importance of being vaccinated against the flu.

"BITCH", commented a person. "PHARMA WHORE."

"May you rot in hell for all the damage you do!" A Facebook user wrote on another of his posts.

She says that a Facebook user in Australia has sent her a death threat.

"She called me a lot of names that I will not repeat and used conspiracy theories about government and big pharmaceutical companies, and I replied," I lost a child. " and I asked where she was from, and she continued to attack me, "said Marotta, who lives in Syracuse, NY.

Catherine and Greg Hughes, an Australian couple who lost their 1-month-old son, Riley, whooping cough, have also been victims of online violence. Too young to be vaccinated, Riley has relied on collective immunity – to vaccinate others – to protect him.

But the immunity of the flock did not protect him, as the area where the Hughes family lived in Perth has one of the lowest vaccination rates in Australia.

"Riley's death was a very embarrassing truth for anti-vaccine activists," said Catherine. "The nasty messages started 24 hours after he died, they called us baby killers and said we would have other babies' blood on our hands, we were told to kill ourselves."

Catherine said that they continued to receive vile comments years after Riley's death.

"[F**k] Hughes family, "wrote a Facebook user on the Light for Riley page.

"What [f**king] you're really fucking bad, "another user wrote to them in a private message on Facebook.

Another Facebook user was more succinct.

"Please, die," wrote the user in a private message.

"Many of them think that they have children injured by a vaccine," Catherine said. "But a good deal of them are just enemies."

The teacher

Mourning mothers are not the only targets of anti-vax violence.

Dorit Reiss, a professor at the Hastings University School of Law, has received innumerable vile messages and, like mothers, many messages are gender-focused. Over the years, she has become quite jaded about it.

"Whore" is pretty normal, "said Reiss, a vaccine advocate who has written extensively about vaccines." I've also been called a [c**t]. "

Sometimes, Reiss, who is Jewish, receives comments mentioning the Holocaust.

A Facebook user added a note to her photo with a photo of her father with "Proud supporter of the Holocaust Vaccine". Reiss says her father has nothing to do with vaccines.

Another photo shows a picture of Reiss holding her young son and stating that Reiss "is forcibly injecting her baby with vaccines.

Below the picture is written: "Because a holocaust was not enough."

Other Facebook users said that his children looked sick on the pictures and that the vaccines were clearly to blame.

"The boy [sic] seems lethargic, "wrote a user, with" dark circles under the eyes. These are common precipitants of vaccine-induced immune suppression and suppression, as well as transient ischemic adverse events induced by the vaccine. "

Reiss said that of all the anti-vaxer messages, the one that annoyed her the most was a voice message left to her husband by her work phone.

"If I hear or see something your wife has written after today, I will communicate your phone number, your business phone number, your business address, her business address, her business phone number." said the caller, reciting correctly their phone numbers and home address.

The doctors

Three pediatric advocates for vocal vaccines have also been frequently targeted by anti-vaxers. All three now have security escorts when they speak in public.

Dr. Paul Offit keeps a big record of nasty messages that he received so that "if someone kills me, my wife can give it to the police." He does not laugh when he says that.

"Rotting in Hell, Baby Killer," a user wrote in an email to Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and professor of pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia. University of Pennsylvania.

"Go [f**king] kill yourself, "wrote another.

"You have no morality and you know that you are a [f**king] liar. I hope you are going to rot in hell, "sent an email to Hotez, professor of pediatrics and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine Baylor.

Social media platform users, MeWe, talked about an upcoming public meeting at which Hotez was to attend.

"Maybe if we cause him enough stress, he'll have a heart attack before [Wednesday]", writes a woman, adding:" #sorrynotsorry. "

Dr. Richard Pan, pediatrician and senator from the state of California, has been spearheading a successful attempt to remove vaccine exemptions for personal or religious reasons for schoolchildren in his state. He has often been the target of racist abuse committed by anti-vaxers on Facebook.

He says he's received thousands of hate messages from anti-vaxers.

"Chinese garbage," wrote a user on Pan's Facebook page, followed by emojis and emojis. "The most ignorant [a**hole]. "

"I hope they will stone you to death," wrote another Facebook user. "I will make a special trip to watch your head cheerfully break.The parents of the children you destroy must have the opportunity.As a Nazi piñata."

Some professionals and mothers surveyed in this story said that they reported abusive messages to Facebook. Most of those who wrote reports reported receiving an automated response and nothing has changed. Others said that after posting a message, the sender had been suspended from Facebook for a short time or their offensive messages had been removed.

Others said they did not report to Facebook because of the cumbersome process or heard that it would not change anything.

A spokesman for Facebook responded to these concerns:

"We try to give our users control means, such as blocking other users and moderating comments, so that they can limit their exposure to unwanted, offensive or offensive content." also users to report bullying behavior on our platform so that we can review the content and take appropriate action, "wrote the spokesperson in an email.

"We want people in our community to feel safe and respected on Facebook and to remove documents that appear to deliberately target private individuals to degrade or shame them."

L & # 39; spy

Costello is one of many advocates for vaccines that have created what is known as a "sock puppet" or fake Facebook account, before joining the closed anti-vaxer groups to spy on them.

She said that she often saw members discussing messages from parents of sick or deceased children, sometimes suggesting that members "educate" these parents by posting them on their page.

For example, a member of the Stop Immunization Required Vaccine Group said that a mother had reported that her baby had had a seizure after receiving a vaccine.

The anti-blower urged the other members of the group to "comment for her! I want to win this mom and she really trusts her pediatrician, but at the same time she's scared!"

Another member of Stop Mandatory Stop has re-released a publication by Catherine Hughes, the mother who had lost her child to a vaccine-preventable illness, calling others to vaccinate their children.

"Does anyone want to answer that message?" the anti-vaxer wrote.

Another member replied, "I am sorry for the lost baby and his other children, but someone has to inject him with his vaccine until he dies."

The biggest fear of a mother

When she sees anti-vixers talking about parents in their closed groups, Costello, the pro-vaccine online spy, contacts these parents to warn them that they might receive bad messages from them. anti-vaxers.

When Costello contacted her mother in the Midwest, she explained why she was contacting her.

"I know you're probably getting a lot of horrible messages on Facebook right now," Costello wrote to the mother. "Children such as [yours] That's why I'm doing my part to fight for an overwhelming acceptance of vaccines as well as to fight the lies and misinformation that unconsciously propagate against vaccines. "

The mother answered.

"I appreciate the important role you bring to the protection of families like mine," she said.

After hundreds of Facebook comments about anti-vaxers, the mother turned off comments on her page and removed many of the ones she had received.

Some are still in his head, though. She cries, remembering the one that was the most difficult to read.

"Those who said it was a false story, that it was not real, that my child did not exist," she said. "Because when your child dies, it's the greatest fear – that it's forgotten."