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Anti-Vaxxers outraged over this dark, but hilarious 'Anti-Vax Mom' Halloween costume

What's wrong with a little gallows humor on Halloween?

Tperry
By TperryOct 31, 2019
Tperry
Tod Perry is a freelance writer from Long Beach, California.
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Facebook user and cosplayer Autumn Dayss has stirred up a bit of Halloween controversy with her last-minute costume, an anti-Vaxx mother.

An image she posted to the social network shows a smiling Dayss wearing a baby carrier featuring a small skeleton. "Going to a costume party tonight as Karen and her non-vaccinated child," the caption over the image reads.

Dayss probably named her costume character Karen because it's a name people use jokingly to refer to entitled mothers who want to "speak to your manager" or argue that vaccines are dangerous on Facebook.

RELATED: A new study of over 650,000 children finds — once again — that vaccines don't cause autism

Dayss costume may be a little too dark for some people, but isn't that what Halloween is all about? Plus, it makes a damning point about parents who decide not to vaccinate their children.

A 2015 Pew Research study found that 83% of Americans think the measles vaccine is safe, while 9% think it's not. Another 7% are not sure. But when you look at the polls that include parents of minors, the numbers get worse; 13% believe that the measles vaccine is unsafe.

However, a recent study of over 650,000 children published earlier this year found there was zero evidence that vaccinations cause autism.

The willful ignorance of the anti-Vaxxers can have devastating consequences.

In 2019, the U.S. had the highest number of measles cases since 1992. According to the CDC, 86% of the cases occurred in "underimmunized" communities.

RELATED: Anti-science mother argues her kids are better off homeschooled than getting immunized

These children pose a major health risk to young babies that are too young to be vaccinated. Unvaccinated children who contract measles are also a financial burden on the U.S. healthcare system.

The post inspired a lot of angry and ill-informed comments from anti-Vaxxers. It also led a response post that truly exemplifies the science denial at the heart of the movement.

This woman dressed up as the measles, a disease she has probably forced herself into believing is safe to rationalize her anti-Vaxxer beliefs.

When, in actuality, according to the World Health Organization, in 2017, over 110,000 people died of measles, mostly children under the age of five.

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