“Vaccines: Fact over Feeling”

As we all know, news outlets can be biased and can stretch the truth or create stories to support their side. This can create panic and confusion to the public and can sometimes be dangerous or harmful. In recent years it has been hard for the science community to deliver correct information to the public without fake news sources. In the article  “Court ruling confirms Gardasil vaccine kills people… scientific evidence beyond any doubt… so where is the outcry?” published by Natural News the article focuses on how the vaccine Gardasil (HPV vaccine)  causes death because of a court ruling.. The site Natural News is a combination of health food related news, health boosting ads controversial topics, something you would not see on a health and wellness site. The article shares very believable information that supports the claim that vaccines are dangerous for all. After doing more research on the tile you find there are more articles with the same title and similar words just different forums. Then you come to find out it’s all the same website. The article went viral due to the fact it had belvable information and appealed to a greater audience.

Articles like these contribute to the massive amount of misinformation on the internet and persuade the public to believe feelings over fact. This article was published on Thursday, April 05, 2018 by Lance D Johnson and it goes into great detail about how the HPV vaccine or Gardasil, kills hundreds of thousands of people. The article was shared over 114,000 times (“The Most Popular Health Articles of 2018, a Scientific Credibility Review.”) and with the other varieties of this article probably more. This reading mainly focuses on the political aspect rather than actual science of how good vaccines are for you. The entire article talks about a court case that took place to justify the vaccine, Gardasil, killed a young woman named Christina Richelle Tarsell. She received the vaccine a couple days before her “unexplained” death and the court case ruled that in this case the death could have been caused by the vaccine. The court case did not rule the vaccine itself causes death or that it is dangerous and should be taken off the list of vaccines deemed safe.. The article frames it to say the vaccine is completely bad and why isn’t there public outcry for it to be removed, when the court case has nothing to do about that and this is a procedure done for many more things besides vaccines. The article states “The Gardasil vaccine is responsible for ending the lives of 271 young women to date” (Lance D “Court Ruling Confirms Gardasil Vaccine Kills People… Scientific Evidence beyond Any Doubt… so Where Is the Outcry?”),  when at a later date the FDA states “ As of December 31, 2008, 32 deaths had been reported to VAERS” (Biologics Evaluation and Research. “Gardasil Vaccine Safety.”) about the vaccine. The article follows up with “ If 271 young people died in a school shooting, the news coverage would be nonstop in support of gun bans” ( Lance, “Court Ruling Confirms Gardasil Vaccine Kills People… Scientific Evidence beyond Any Doubt… so Where Is the Outcry?”) The writer wants to persuade the reader to believe these numbers not based on supporting facts but on emotion. The message being sent out was not based on credibility but of what the audience of that website wants. The case was real but the facts about the case were not, but still the article made it around to platforms like Forbes and they state “People who say that Gardasil has killed a hundred people and hurt tens of thousands are repeating a misuse of data to generate fear. And their message is spin, not fact”(Herper, “Here Is How We Know Gardasil Has Not Killed 100 People.”). The article constantly takes information out of context and uses it to the websites benefit to persuade their audience.

Articles like these directly affect how America trusts our science and health organizations like, the FDA and CDC. This news article went viral because the message speaks to a large number of the citizens in the US. Many individuals believe vaccines are bad news and will reshare, post, tweet, etc. anything that backs up their claim. Even if it’s wrong. The design of the website gives it a look where they might know what they are talking about with food health, not not so much scientific backup. To someone who isn’t that interested in science and what the facts are this article can be appealing. If an audience of scientists or individuals who rely on sources and scientific studies it probably wouldn’t have spread as well. Another factor that made this article reach many individuals in the eye catching headline. This is something many Facebook articles do to get you to click on the information. Some individuals will share an article like this to show what not to look at but in the process they are giving the article more highways to branch from. The culture that we live in is currently divided on if we should use vaccines and if they are harmful. This article points to the negative side of vaccines but it’s not very creditable, since it is part of our society and in our controversial topics, it’s easy to be blinded by misinformation.

To conclude, the article has clearly made bold claims about the item in question which caused it to go viral. The message that was put out was very eye catching and relatable to the audience’s beliefs.  The article shares very believable information that supports the claim that vaccines are dangerous and should be avoided at all costs. The site Natural News is a combination of health food related news and controversial topics, something you would not see on a health and wellness site. Stretching the truth for the media is not uncommon but to spread lies  about misinformation can be dangerous and can cause chaos.

 

Work cited

Johnson, Lance D. “Court Ruling Confirms Gardasil Vaccine Kills People… Scientific Evidence beyond Any Doubt… so Where Is the Outcry?” NaturalNews.com, 30 Jan. 2019, www.naturalnews.com/2018-04-05-court-ruling-confirms-gardasil-vaccine-kills-people-scientific-evidence-beyond-any-doubt.html.

Biologics Evaluation and Research. “Gardasil Vaccine Safety.” U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/safety-availability-biologics/gardasil-vaccine-safety.

Herper, Matthew. “Here Is How We Know Gardasil Has Not Killed 100 People.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 26 Feb. 2015, www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2012/05/03/here-is-how-we-know-gardasil-has-not-killed-100-people/#45541f293590.

“The Most Popular Health Articles of 2018, a Scientific Credibility Review.” Health Feedback, 28 June 2019, healthfeedback.org/the-most-popular-health-articles-of-2018-a-scientific-credibility-review/#Review9.