Thread by @MSNBC

A mother’s loss made her an anti-vaccination star. But vaccines didn’t kill her baby.

Reporting by @brandyzadrozny. nbcnews.com/tech/social-me… (1/7)

@BrandyZadrozny A baby named Evee became a poster child of the anti-vaccination movement. One billboard featuring Evee says "healthy babies don't just die." Her mom blamed vaccines.

But a 911 call and autopsy obtained by @NBCNews shows Evee suffocated while co-sleeping. (2/7)

@BrandyZadrozny @NBCNews The day after Evee died — before the medical examiner had issued any findings — her mother Catelin Clobes poured out her heartbreak and confusion on Facebook.

"This feeling of pain is indescribable," she wrote next to a video of Evee laughing that attracted 3,000 comments. (3/7)

@BrandyZadrozny @NBCNews Clobes' grief and Evee's giggle were like a siren, attracting family and friends, and then thousands of strangers offering condolences.

Within hours of her post, some had answers.

"Vaccine injury is real and a movement is spreading across the nation," one woman wrote. (4/7)

@BrandyZadrozny @NBCNews At a time when the US faces the largest outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses in decades, a network of activists is finding new recruits to the anti-vaccination cause by raising questions about the sudden deaths of several dozen babies and young children. (5/7)

@BrandyZadrozny @NBCNews Social media activist Larry Cook, who hosts the largest anti-vaccination community on FB, made a business out of the anti-vaccination narratives of distressed parents. He has raised over $100,000 through GoFundMe campaigns and then other platforms after GoFundMe banned him. (6/7)

@BrandyZadrozny @NBCNews Today, Catelin Clobes isn't just telling her own story. She's using her growing platform to circulate the stories of other families who claim vaccines killed their babies.

She also started GoFundMe campaigns for two of the mothers. nbcnews.to/2lmGa6H (7/7) #NBCNewsThreads