Vaccination Information Network

{{vax}}
{{cquote|"I started the Vaccination Information Network (VINE) in 1988 and the VINE Facebook page in 2009, to help parents make an informed choice on behalf of their children. Please note that [[anti-intellectualism|VINE is not a forum for debate]].|||Erwin Alber}}
'''Vaccination Information Network''' (VINE) is a rabid [[anti-vaccination]] organization, dedicated to [[War on Science|science]] [[denialism]]<ref>[https://www.vaccinationinformationnetwork.com/new-evidence-for-mmr-link-to-autism/ "NEW EVIDENCE FOR MMR LINK TO AUTISM"] by Beezy Marsh (2013) Vaccine Information Network</ref>, [[quackery]]<ref>[https://www.vaccinationinformationnetwork.com/no-incurable-diseases-dr-richard-schulze/ "NO INCURABLE DISEASES"] by Richard Schulz (2017) Vaccine Information Network</ref>, and [[conspiracy theories]]<ref>[https://www.vaccinationinformationnetwork.com/how-we-are-being-brainwashed-manipulated-controlled-and-exploited/ "HOW WE ARE BEING BRAINWASHED, MANIPULATED, CONTROLLED AND EXPLOITED"] (2016) Vaccine Information Network</ref>. They first started as a [[Facebook]] page, but apparently developed enough of a presence to be established as a separate website. Their Facebook page has over 145k likes and over 136k followers, so they're apparently influential enough.<ref>[https://www.reddit.com/r/medicine/comments/22ctr0/vaccination_information_network_a_plague_to/ Reddit post talking about someone who's repeatedly sharing information from that site]. April 6, 2014. Retrieved April 22, 2018.</ref> They push usual [[point refuted a thousand times|PRATT]]s related to anti-vaccination, so get out your [[Fun:Anti-vaccine argument bingo|anti-vaccine argument bingo card]] and start checking off. They may even offer new bonus points to add from their special "What sorts of shitty questions should I ask my bullying doctor?" section.<ref>[https://www.vaccinationinformationnetwork.com/how-to-deal-with-bullying-doctors/ How to deal with bullying doctors]. Vaccine Information Network. Retrieve April 22, 2018.</ref>

Their "about us":
{{quotebox|Vaccination Information Network (VINE) originally started as a [[Facebook]] page, where it grew into arguably Facebook's most popular source of [[bullshit|reliable vaccination information]].
 
As with many other unbiased vaccination organisations, VINE has also been [[persecution complex|under attack from Big Pharma]], with [[censorship]] restrictions occasionally being enforced by Facebook.
 
The VINE website has been created in order to allow the public unrestricted access to the full range of vaccination information, including articles and videos.}}

==Content==
[[File:Over-the-top AntiVax Meme.jpeg|thumb|This image sums up the site's tastes in aesthetics pretty nicely.]]
Within the website, there is constant stream of images of upset babies being vaccinated, and the site is very fascinated with the human skull. There is a meme of a skeleton with big bold text proclaiming "poison for profit"<ref name=VaccineExemptions>[https://www.vaccinationinformationnetwork.com/vaccine-exemptions-in-the-usa/ Vaccine Exemptions in the USA]. Vaccination Information Network. Retrieved April 22, 2018.</ref>. There is an image of a giant syringe with a droplet that has a cartoon skull etched inside.<ref>https://www.vaccinationinformationnetwork.com/recovering-our-children-from-near-fatal-vaccine-injuries/ Recovering Our Children from Near Fatal Vaccine Injuries.] Vaccination Information Network. Retrieved April 22, 2018.</ref> There is an image, from [[NaturalNews]], of the word "autism" insidiously revealed behind a yellowed and decrepit CDC logo.<ref>[https://www.vaccinationinformationnetwork.com/the-vaccine-autism-link-revealed The Vaccine-Autism link revealed.] Vaccination Information Network. Retrieved April 22, 2018.</ref> Thankfully, a lot of videos they post seem to be broken. Even the featured video at the bottom of the site is broken.

Despite all these unabashed scaremongering, demonizing doctors and pro-vaccine legislators,<ref name=VaccineExemptions/> graphic images,<ref name=VaccineExemptions/> all-caps headlines, constant appeal to "choice", and a glaring lack of actual research and logical arguments, they consider themselves to be an unbiased vaccine organization among other unbiased vaccine organizations. Like their ilk, they claim to have been under attack by the [[Big Pharma]] bogeyman. Actual "unbiased" vaccine organizations such as the Center of Disease Control are not under attack by Big Pharma.

Typical crap on this page reads "by far the most common letter or post sent into us, is the latest pro vax article going viral.... with people asking for a rebuttal...... the current one is 'dear parents, you are being lied to...'". They claim that "vaccines have never protected anyone or saved anyone’s life",<ref name=VaccineExemptions/> which is an outright lie,<ref>Gorski, D. (March 29, 2010). [https://respectfulinsolence.com/2010/03/29/the-intellectual-dishonesty-of-the-vacci/ The intellectual dishonesty of the “vaccines didn’t save us” gambit]. ''Respectful Insolence''. Retrieved April 22, 2018.</ref> and they don't even bother to support that claim with anything, not even an internal link. The site is, not surprisingly, illiterate in their chemistry, by using the classic argument by vaccine [[Argumentum ad package insert|package insert]]<ref>Skeptical Raptor. (March 15, 2018). [https://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/vaccine-package-inserts-debunking-myths/ Argument by Vaccine Package Inserts – they’re not infallible]. Retrieved April 22, 2018.</ref> by using a source from Center of Disease Control and Prevention to then say how toxic vaccines are because they contain trace amounts of certain substances. They apparently trust the CDC enough when it comes to believing about toxic substances, but the CDC itself states that the substances are safe at the dose they are administered.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20160605033818/http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents/tools/parents-guide/parents-guide-part4.html Parents' Guide to Childhood Immunizations]. ''Center of Disease Control and Prevention.'' Retrieved April 22, 2018.</ref> They hosted an opinion from Dr. Robert S Mendelsohn, who wrote a book about raising a healthy child in spite of that pesky doctor. Among his opinions? Measles aren't that bad.<ref>[https://www.vaccinationinformationnetwork.com/measles-facts/ Measles Facts]. Vaccination Information Network. April 22, 2018.</ref> Someone has measles? That person just needs a lot of rest, fluids, and calamine lotion/cornstarch baths because measles are just like a mild cold. While also denying that the measles vaccine works (all while confusing mortality with morbidity rates, business as usual), Mendelsohn also outright denies the risk of permanent blindness from measles. He is wrong.<ref>Sanders, K. (February 4 2015). [http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/feb/04/celine-gounder/measles-leading-cause-blindness-around-world/ Is measles a leading cause of child blindness around the world?]. ''Politifact''. Retrieved March 22, 2018.</ref><ref>Dang, S. [https://www.aao.org/eye-health/tips-prevention/six-ways-measles-can-affect-eyes-2 Six Ways Measles Can Affect the Eyes]. (March 5, 2015) ''American Academy of Opthamology''. Retrieved April 22, 2018.</ref> Tacked on are additional opinions from other people also unfit to offer medical advice, Hilary Butler (an antivaxxer parent with a proclivity towards inappropriate [[Nazi analogies]])<ref>[https://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2013/05/24/quote-antivaccinationist-hilary-butler-non-vaccinators-are-the-new-jews Quoth antivaccinationist Hilary Butler: Non-vaccinators are the "new Jews"] by David Gorski (May 23, 2013) ''Science Blogs''.</ref> and Viera Scheibner (a geologist).<ref>{{wpa|Viera Scheibner}}</ref> Hilary Butler thinks liver-cod oil and Vitamin A will cure measles somehow and also thinks the measles vaccines didn't save us because [[nirvana fallacy|people still get measles]] and that deaths from measles (mortality) — NOT measles incidences (morbidity), which vaccines have destroyed — were declining and rare before the vaccine was administered.

Despite not understanding "[[the dose makes the poison]]", they still promote [[homeopathy]].<ref>[https://www.vaccinationinformationnetwork.com/homeopathy-resource-page/ Homeopathy Resourced Page.] Vaccine Information Network. Retrieve April 22, 2018.</ref> They also characterize vaccines as a "fraudulent, disproven and obsolete medical (mal-)practice from the dark ages of medicine." while hailing homeopathy as "a beneficial form of healing which holds great promise for the future, especially as it is a healing system which has been shown to be able to alleviate and in some cases reverse the wide-spread harm and disasters caused by vaccinations." If homeopathy actually works, surely they should advocate increasing the concentration of the toxic chemicals they hate so much? Also, because Samuel Hahnemann and John D. Rockfeller, who took advice from homeopathic doctors, lived to old ages, this means homeopathy works.

Because the CDC was involved in an alleged coverup of a link between vaccines and autism (hint: the entire thing is overblown and there is no coverup),<ref>Gorski, D. January 6, 2016). [https://respectfulinsolence.com/2016/01/05/the-cdc-whistleblower-documents-a-whole-lot-of-nothing-and-no-conspiracy-to-hide-an-mmr-autism-link/ The CDC whistleblower documents: A whole lot of nothing and no conspiracy to hide an MMR-autism link]. ''Respectful Insolence''. Retrieved April 22, 2018.</ref> and because the CDC is just like the Tuskegee syphilis experiments by giving minorities vaccinations without their consent in South Central Los Angeles, in the late 80's-early 90's, this means CDC thinks [[Black Lives Matter|Black Lives Don't Matter]].<ref> Vaccine Information Network. [https://www.vaccinationinformationnetwork.com/black-lives-dont-matter-according-to-the-cdc/ Black Lives Don’t Matter, According To The CDC]. Retrieved April 22, 2018.</ref>

==Unrelated conspiracy-mongering==
{{main|Crank magnetism}}
[[File:Nazi Fluoride Tank.gif|thumb|Vaccination Information Network contains an image by [[David Dees]] of a Fascist Anarchist Communist fluoride tank, almost bursting with every derogatory buzzword the skull of truth can drink, underneath some chemtrails.]]
Vaccine Information Network is also proud to broaden their horizons and introduce more posts, also as unhinged as a door in a category F4 tornado, culminating into a nice conspiracy stew. This includes screeds railing against [[Genetically modified food|GMOs]],<ref name=Chemtrails>[https://www.vaccinationinformationnetwork.com/chemtrails-awareness-resource-page/ Chemtrails Awareness Resource Page]. Vaccination Information Network. Retrieved April 22, 2018.</ref> [[water fluoridation]], [[chemtrail]]s<ref name=Chemtrails/>, and [[Justin Trudeau]]'s [[homosexual agenda|gay]] [[Canada|Canadian]] [[Nazism|Nazi]] [[Fascism|Fascist]] [[Marxism|Marxist Socialist]] multinational bank corporate takeover<ref name=SocialistTakeover>Alber, E. [https://www.vaccinationinformationnetwork.com/the-global-socialist-takeover-is-coming-to-your-country/ The Globalist Socialist Takeover]. Vaccination Information Network. Retrieved April 22, 2018.</ref>.

Uniquely, they do ''not'' support [[Donald Trump]]. Instead, they have hosted an equally-incoherent post,<ref>Jack. [https://www.vaccinationinformationnetwork.com/us-fake-elections-trump-is-a-clinton-plant/ US FAKE ELECTIONS – TRUMP IS A CLINTON PLANT!] Vaccination Information Network. Retrieved April 22, 2018.</ref> by "Jack", proclaiming, in several all-caps paragraphs and forty different embedded videos, that Trump is a "Clinton plant". Taking a page from [[Lyndon LaRouche]], both Trump and [[Hillary Clinton]] are just puppets of, you guessed it, British politicians, with a few dabs of vague [[International Jewish conspiracy|anti-Semitism]] thrown in. Specifically, the two are controlled by the Council of Foreign Relations (who aren't British), who in turn are in control of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (who are indeed British), who are the mere agents of Queen Elizabeth II, all working together to destroy the United States. Even the whistle-blower ''[[Alex Jones]]'' is sadly clueless. There is at least some self-awareness sprinkled in there ("If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, (most don’t)").

They have also hosted a piece, published in September 2017, that purportedly links [[water fluoridation]] to lower IQ scores.<ref>[https://www.vaccinationinformationnetwork.com/new-study-confirms-fluoride-lowers-childrens-iq/ New Study Confirms Fluoride Lowers Children’s IQ]. Vaccination Information Network. Retrieved April 22, 2018.</ref> If they more carefully read the paper, the paper specifically talks about populations with high exposures, and it has several limitations (including but not limited to small sample size, being only an observational study, no mention of confounding factors such as arsenic information, no data of actual fluoride count consumed by participants). Being unable to resist a Nazi jab (which hopefully won't cause autism), the article includes a graphic of a fluoride tank with a ''[[swastika|hakenkreuz]]''.

How any of this pertains to vaccine information, it's anyone's guess.

==See also==
*[[Vaccine hysteria]]
*[[Australian Vaccination-skeptics Network]], another nice-sounding anti-vaccine organization with "network" in their title.

==External links==
*[https://www.vaccinationinformationnetwork.com/ Main site]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Misnomers]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience promoting organizations]]
[[Category:Webshites]]
[[Category:Anti-LGBT bigots]]
[[Category:Crank magnetism]]

Categories: Misnomers, Conspiracy theorists, Pseudoscience promoting organizations, Webshites, Anti-LGBT bigots, Crank magnetism