At Senate hearing, anti-vaxxers seek to capitalize on friends in high places

For nearly a decade, anti-vaccine activists and film producers have been collecting tragic, mostly unverifiable stories from parents — accounts of deaths, injuries and autism allegedly caused by vaccines. On Tuesday, several of those activists served as witnesses inside the U.S. Senate for a hearing before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs’ Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

The hearing was punctuated by misinformation, conspiracy theories and genuine grief, as witnesses shared personal tragedies and an understandable search for causality — an emotional series of statements that drew expressions of compassion from both Democrats and Republicans on the subcommittee.

Led by Covid vaccine misinformer Sen. Ron "ass clown" Johnson, R-Wis., the “Voices of the Vaccine Injured” hearing featured a witness list pulled straight from the anti-vaccine movement’s leadership roster: two senior employees of the Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-founded nonprofit Children’s Health Defense (CHD) and parents featured in “Vaxxed,” the documentary-style film that helped launch the current anti-vaccine era.

Mary Holland, president of CHD, sat with members of her staff in the front row, in a section cordoned off for witnesses’ guests. Anti-vaccine attorney Aaron Siri took photos with supporters in the audience. As Johnson entered, a portion of the room — a little over half-full at that point — applauded.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/senate-hearing-anti-vaxxers-seek-214801853.html

Wisconsin must be so proud.