Last week, with help from my 20-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter, I made an 8-second video about one of my books, The Vaccine-Friendly Plan, which I co-wrote with Paul Thomas, M.D., .
We posted the video on TikTok (where I have approximately 1 follower) and also shared it on Instagram and FacePoopy.
The comments started rolling in:
“There is NO vaccine-friendly plan.”
“No vaccine is friendly. LOL.”
And my favorite. From someone identifying himself as Andy Christensen:
“Look at that sheeple face … ! My guess is she’s Jewish, too.”
This same lovely man chimed back in with: “F*cked up,” under which he posted a meme that reads:
“The Only 100% Immunity with Vaccines is Any Litigation for Causing Death, Autism, or Any Neurological Injury.”
This isn’t the first time I’ve enraged anti-vaxxers
When my kids were little, I was kicked out of a holistic parenting group for sharing that I lived and worked in West Africa and have had many vaccines, some against diseases most Americans have never heard of.
I’ve been vilified by anti-vaxxers for saying that vaccines are one important tool in the medical toolbox.
Moreover, I’ve been threatened with dismemberment and other heinous acts for defending Paul Offit, M.D., whom I interviewed for a long article I wrote in 2009 for Mothering magazine.
A lot of medical freedom advocates hate Dr. Offit. But when I spoke to him on the phone, he was gracious, kind, intelligent, and full of concern for America’s children.
Those in the staunchly all-vaccines-are-bad-for-all-people-at-all-times camp have told me I’m a “baby killer” for daring to suggest that some vaccines may be the right choice for some people.
For years I’ve been saying that every family should have the right to decide about vaccines on a vaccine-by-vaccine basis, and that parents need to make informed choices based on their children’s genetics, risk of disease exposure, and previous health history.
For many this stance is irksome. They want me to be categorically anti-vaccine.
“She’s just talking out of both sides of her mouth,” I had one angry reader say.
“No vaccine is safe, ever, for anyone. You should be ashamed of yourself,” another insisted.
It’s a little irony that I’m being called a “sheeple” by the anti-vaxxers. And—gasp!—a Jewish one at that. (Yes, I’m Jewish.)
It’s ironic because I also get hate from the pro-vaccine fanatics.
But they vilify me for a different reason.
They’re furious at me for being “anti-vaccine.”
The pro-vaccine establishment apologists also hate me
I could post links to dozens, if not hundreds, of hate articles—some of which have my name in the title (like this one and this one)—but I’d rather not drive more traffic to these misinformationists.
Some of the hate emails that come to me via my website and the nasty comments in my social media inboxes or below my public posts are breathtaking.
A couple examples, just for the heck of it:
“This is horrible. How can you be so unsympathetic to other peoples' children? Do you NOT care AT ALL if a sick child is infected by your sick child?? Your kid may not die from chicken pox or polio or measles, but there are literally millions of children out there who are at risk because they are already sick, either from cancer, auto-immune disease or something else you don't know about, and if they get diphtheria, they die. We don't take polio off the vaccine schedule, because there are LOTS OF PLACES outside of the United States, where people travel every day. If you STOP VACCINATING, the diseases come back. How ignorant and illogical are you?”
“Clearly you've never sat in a hospital wondering if your baby was going to live or die because some uneducated twit doesn't understand the seriousness of certain diseases. I hope you learn, soon.”
In addition, I’ve been admonished to keep my “filthy children” away from public places; told I’m a quack and a m-f*cker.
One person, posting on social media, said she hoped the cancer I was diagnosed with last year “rots me from the inside out.”
My crime in that instance?
Speaking up for families with children with autism.
A few years back, when the vaccine wars were heating up, CNN all but called for our book, The Vaccine-Friendly Plan, to be banned, accusing us of being anti-vaccine “conspiracy theorists” and criticizing Amazon for selling the book in the first place.
Dr. Paul Offit himself blocked me from Twitter. To this day, I don’t know why.
A recent thread on Reddit, “Hope everyone is ready for every disease possible to make a comeback 😬,” includes hateful comments about me, Dr. Paul, and anyone who dares question the efficacy, safety, and necessity of the CDC’s over-bloated and unscientific vaccine schedule.
Why hated by both sides?
I have a nuanced approach to vaccines.
It appears to me, based on over 25 years of researching and writing about health and medical safety, that we are recommending children get too many vaccines too soon, and that what started as a seemingly effective way to help children stay safe and healthy has become a cash cow for the pharmaceutical industry instead of a smart public health policy.
Vaccines, to me, are similar to antibiotics. They can be life-saving when used judiciously, especially in tandem with other health practices.
But, just like with antibiotics, it’s becoming increasingly clear that vaccines are being over-used to the detriment of human health.
None of my children ever needed an antibiotic when they were little. We found effective alternatives. I champion the judicious use of antibiotics. Does that make me anti-antibiotic?
More people than ever are proudly identifying as “anti-vaccine.” For me, even though I’ve always considered myself pro-vaccine, I suspect the best approach to support a human baby’s innate immune system is with healthy lifestyle practices.
These include exclusive breastfeeding, eating real, whole, fresh foods, and avoiding toxins as much as possible.
Given the overload of toxins our children are being exposed to these days, and the known carcinogens and endocrine disruptors present in today’s vaccines, the safest, healthiest, and best choice is likely to avoid vaccines altogether or to vaccinate on a very delayed schedule.
At the same time, I’m willing to change my mind based on new information and new science.
For example, some fascinating research shows that babies in Africa given live viral vaccines early in life are protected against all-cause mortality.
This new science should not be ignored.
So, as with many science and health questions, I am not a true believer. I’m neither fantastically in favor of or fanatically against vaccines.
So what about The Vaccine-Friendly Plan?
Our book, The Vaccine-Friendly Plan, begins with a chapter on avoiding toxins. We then cover pregnancy, childbirth, the moments after birth, the toddler years, the health of preschoolers and school-aged children, and beyond.
The penultimate chapter is about teenagers and the health concerns that come with parenting teens.
Most of the chapters correspond to “well baby” visits so parents can read up on what to expect before they bring their child to the doctor.
At the end of each chapter we cover which vaccines parents might consider, and which are a firm “Heck, no thank you.”
Our book isn’t just about vaccines. It’s about healthy eating, avoiding toxins, and natural alternatives to many conventional practices.
While Dr. Paul did recommend certain vaccines when he was still practicing medicine, he strongly encouraged pregnant women not to get any vaccines (currently pregnant women are told to get one to two flu shots, a TdaP, and a COVID vaccine).
He told families with a history of neurological disorders or differences to consider not vaccinating; and he recommended never getting more than one aluminum-containing shot at the same time.
In addition, if a child had a concerning reaction of any kind, he would advise the family to stop vaccinating.
After all, you can always do vaccines later. But you can’t take back the vaccines you’ve already done.
Without ever cracking the cover to see what’s inside, some people vociferously object to the book’s title.
But a vaccine-friendly doctor, which is a phrase coined by Dr. Bob Sears, M.D., is a doctor who supports families who do no vaccines, some vaccines, or all vaccines.
Not vaccinating won’t confer perfect health on your children. Vaccinating won’t either. Every family must have the right to choose to say, “Yes, please,” or “No, thank you,” to what the doctor recommends.
The Vaccine-Friendly Plan has sold over a quarter of a million copies and has over 3,900 5-star reviews on Amazon.
We cite over 300 peer-reviewed scientific articles to back up our claims and include a section in the appendices summarizing some of the most important vaccine science parents should be aware of.
It’s a book that has saved many marriages and helped countless families find a gentler way forward.
You should be able to get a copy at any public library in the country. (If you can’t, you can request that your local library order it.)
Before accusing me of being a sheeple for promoting the judicious use of vaccines or a quack for pointing out that our current vaccine recommendations aren’t scientifically sound, I recommend you read the book.
About the author:
Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., is an award-winning science journalist and book author. She worked on a child survival campaign in West Africa; appeared live on prime-time television in France to champion an end to child slavery; and taught post-colonial literature to non-traditional students in Atlanta, Georgia. She earned her B.A. from Cornell University; her M.A. from the University of California at Berkeley; and her Ph.D. from Emory University. A former contributing editor of Mothering magazine and contributing writer to The Epoch Times, she has published in hundreds of magazines, newspapers, and on-line sites. Her byline has appeared in The New York Times, the Washington Post, Ms Magazine, Pregnancy magazine, O: The Oprah Magazine, FamilyFun, More magazine, Military History Quarterly, Oregon Business Magazine, the Oregonian, and the Christian Science Monitor, to name just a few.
Related posts:
Yes, Vaccines Cause Autism
Parents of Child Vaccinated Against Their Will Sue the State
I Want to Tell You About Zara (She Died)
Offit may be a "very nice" person to you, and he may even have some lovely things to say about the importance of letting a child experience a fever without suppressing it...and he may even have admitted that the Covid boosters should not be used because they are not effective...BUT (!) as soon as he realized that Big Media was ignoring him once he began to no longer support the Big Pharma narrative on the vaccine, Offit then changed his public opinions that began claiming that the Covid vaccines "prevented" millions of deaths (BULL-SHIT...or worse, it is more accurate to identify Offit's position as "elephant shit"...which is much bigger than bull-shit!).
Just sayin'...
Dr. Margulis, I empathize with your perplexity in getting barraged and vilified for honest scholarship and science writing.
That said, I must say that your nuanced view of vaccines has parts I agree with (it is utterly and totally the parents' choice about whether their child is vaccinated and with what vaccines, when.
But I diverge and diverge strongly from you on the idea that any vaccine has a place in any health program.
However, that would never lead me to vilify you, only to disagree with you.
One thing we can both agree on, however, is the that UN's subsidiary organization, the WHO has a horrifying mandatory Immunization Agenda schedule for world wide, mandated vaccination by 2030 of - this is not typo coming up, Dr. Margulis - "500 novel vaccines" along with all of the vaccines that currently exist.
These are mandated vaccines, violating our shared commitment to the right of Informed Consent and to parental rights.
The solution is not to negotiate a smaller number of mandated vaccines.
The solution is, in my estimation, to get out of the UN, which is the author of a huge number of wildly destructive programs.
There is currently legislation in front of the UN Congress called Disengaging Entirely From the UN Debacle Act of 2023. People can go to PreventGenocide2030.org and support that Act there by taking a simple and effective electronic action to communicate with your Congressional Members.
When finished, please share the link to help motivate others.
I am sure that the idea of many more than 500 mandated vaccines horrifies you as much as it does me.
And 500 of those vaccines are novel.
This is totally unacceptable.