“Why does the word vaccine cause so much fear”

Ever since there was an increase in the use of vaccines there are always parents and individuals fearful of what vaccines are and what they are capable of. In recent years, some are refusing to use vaccines because of information they have read from outside media sources. Many of these sources use the ingredients of vaccines to scare the public like mercury and Formaldehyde. So there would be a good enough reason as to why the word “vaccine” creates so much fear and controversy. In the article “Court ruling confirms Gardasil vaccine kills people… scientific evidence beyond any doubt… so where is the outcry?” by Natural News, the writer uses the word a lot. Almost 17 times over the course of a couple paragraphs. Not only using the word by itself but with negative terms to it like death and kill to prove their point. Their choice of negative rhetoric is a main reason why the article went viral.

In the article the use of the word vaccine is put into a negative light to influence readers to read the article since it is a controversial topic. Even in the title “Gardasil vaccine kills people.” That alone is enough to get people to share the article without doing more research. It’s such a bold statement that you want to read more and people who see the “natural” lifestyle the outlet puts on, will be more likely to believe them.   Almost every time the word vaccine is used, there is a negative connotation to it like death, kills, destroys, end lives, etc. A vaccine is a medicine to prevent deadly diseases in this case HPV (Human Papillomavirus) but in this article it is shown to be the cause of death in a certain individual. When saying the vaccine alone “kills” people it’s seen as the only possibility, but if “can kill” is the statement then there is more  possibility for other scenarios. The second phrasing just doesn’t get as many views or shares, than a direct correlation. The writer stretches the truth of the court case to make it appear to be in their favor and uses very big and scary words to persuade the reader they are right.

The article also uses gun violence and vaccines in comparison to make the public readers more fearful of the situation. The writer states, “If the young girl had been gunned down by a madman with an AR-15, then there’d be national headlines and a march on Washington. Since this young woman was “shot” to death by a vaccine, the whole story gets swept under the rug,” and “If 271 young people died in a school shooting, the news coverage would be nonstop in support of gun bans. How about a ban on Gardasil – a real modern day assault weapon?” (Johnson, Court ruling confirms Gardasil vaccine kills people… scientific evidence beyond any doubt… so where is the outcry?). This comparison sets the negative tone for the medicine and makes it seem as if vaccines should have the same fear from the public as gun violence. The writer blames “the public” and media outlets for worrying more about gun violence than this one vaccine. He uses the words  “the public,” as a way to directly address the audience. To more or less bring them in and tell them they need to do something about the issue. 

To conclude, the writer uses negative adjectives next to the word vaccine to place fear into the reader’s mind. The writer uses the same words over and over to make the reader associate vaccines with those words subconsciously. In the society we live in vaccines already seem scary enough due to the fact of misinformation. As a society there will always be people who are afraid of what vaccines can possibly do.

 

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