Globe and Mail Public Editor: No need to offer ‘false balance’ to anti-vaxxers

Anti-vaxxers are up in arms about negative media coverage of their cause. Considering the timing, this is a little surprising: measles, a potentially life-threatening disease especially for unvaccinated babies or people with suppressed immune systems, is on the rise, thanks to anti-vaccination scare tactics. Despite scientific evidence to the contrary, anti-vaxxers continue to perpetuate the idea that vaccines do more harm than good.

In February, a measles outbreak in B.C. infected 17 people. This month, whooping cough in Moncton has infected five at a high school and an infant and an adult in Toronto were diagnosed with measles.

And yet the anti-vaxxers are complaining.

Perhaps it is because Health Reporter Carly Weeks has been writing so much science-based news on the topic, including Facebook’s plan to stop the spread of anti-vaccine misinformation.

Continue reading this story on the Globe and Mail website, where it first appeared.

Sylvia Stead

Sylvia Stead is the Public Editor of the Globe and Mail.