Yes, we’re back to antivaxxers. Some background: In 2019, there was a small chickenpox outbreak at a Marysville High School in Michigan, whereupon unvaccinated students were sent home as a reasonable precaution and to the chagrin and protests of delusional conspiracy theorists. Stacy DeShon, local mother, lawyer (estate planning) and self-appointed spokesperson for the parents of children prevented from attending school until the outbreak cleared, also wrote an op-ed for the local paper, Times Herald, to protest the decision, primarily by misrepresenting the facts and claiming that the school broke the law and showed “total disregard for the emotional welfare or physical safety of the students” (an accusation that everyone but hardcore antivaxxers would level at the parents rather than the school). As for vaccines, “it’s my right”, said DeShon, to refuse vaccines – as usual with “vaccine choice” activists, it’s about them, the parents: the children’s interests aren’t really on their radar. Indeed, DeShon is also affiliated with the hardcore antivaccine group Michigan for Vaccine Choice, which is notable for its persistent promotion of the efforts of leading antivaccine advocate Del Bigtree.
Diagnosis: Not particularly notable or noticeable, but DeShon is definitely an anti-vaccine activist, and a rather aggressive one at that, even though she recognizes the benefit, for marketing purposes, on focusing on an Orwellian interpretation of ‘freedom’ rather than on pseudomedical denialism.
Talk about an asshole...
ReplyDelete