In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the discredited notion that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. And among those diseases could be COVID-19.
Antivaxxers are sometimes violent, often abusive, and always wrong.
They often compare vaccines to the Holocaust and drive home their point with Nazi symbols.
At least two protesters displayed Nazi symbols during an anti-vaccine protest outside a Jewish lawmaker’s office in the Bronx on Sunday.
One woman held a poster that included the image of a swastika and a man wore a yellow Star of David affixed to his jacket during the protest outside the Kingsbridge office of Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, according to photos provided by the legislator.
Dinowitz blasted the symbols as “repugnant and offensive” in a statement posted to Twitter.
“People are perfectly free to express their opinion on vaccines or any issue, but to openly display Nazi symbols outside the office of a Jewish legislator is despicable,” he said.
The protesters rallied against a state bill sponsored by Dinowitz that would require all New York students to be vaccinated in order to attend school.
The rally was reportedly organized by former Westchester County Executive and gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino.
Astorino said in a tweet Sunday night that he was unaware of the symbols.
“I had no idea until I saw this photo. If I’d seen it I’d have told them to take the sign down. No comparison to those atrocities & yes, I’ve always condemned anti-Semitism,” Astorino wrote.
In Kansas, anti-vaxxers are showing up to municipal meetings wearing yellow stars, portraying themselves as having equal footing with Jewish victims of the Holocaust. pic.twitter.com/buXTibFON8
— Chad Loder (they/them) (@chadloder) November 12, 2021
