Neena Satija and Lena H. Sun at WP:
The nation’s oldest anti-vaccine advocacy group often emphasizes that it is supported primarily by small donations and concerned parents, describing its founder as the leader of a “national, grass roots movement.”
But over the past decade a single donor has contributed more than $2.9 million to the National Vaccine Information Center, accounting for about 40 percent of the organization’s funding, according to the most recent available tax records. That donor, osteopathic physician Joseph Mercola, has amassed a fortune selling natural health products, court records show, including vitamin supplements, some of which he claims are alternatives to vaccines.
In recent years, the center has been at the forefront of a movement that has led some parents to forgo or delay immunizing their children against vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles. Health officials say falling vaccination rates contributed to the infectious virus sickening more than 1,200 people in the United States this year, the largest number in more than 25 years. Measles outbreaks are surging worldwide, including in Samoa — where nearly 80 people have died since mid-October, the great majority of them young children and infants.
Anti-vaxxer groups are well funded and driven by wealthy individuals who profit personally from spreading disinformation abt vaccines. #VaccinesWork #Ivax2protect #Resist #AlternativeFacts #BigAltMed https://t.co/y5iZXm8TQA— Dr. Richard Pan (@DrPanMD) December 20, 2019
Latest update: 5,494 measles cases have been reported since the outbreak with 31 recorded in the last 24 hours.— Government of Samoa (@samoagovt) December 20, 2019
To date, 79 measles related deaths have been recorded.
VACCINATION UPDATE: As of 20 Dec, 94% of population have been vaccinated.
