Thread by @allthecitizens

🚨NEW from @allthecitizens 🚨
Anti-vax groups want to ‘save the children’ – but what do teens actually want? Our investigation for the @independent by @mccoolingtons & @kdenkwrites is out: independent.co.uk/news/health/an…

2/“I think we deserve to be vaccinated because we’re out here trying to get degrees, trying to go to school, trying to live our lives,” said Izzy, 17, watching a small anti-vaccination protest in her hometown in September” #COVID #vaccine

3/ As 12-17 year olds are offered the #vaccine, anti-vax networks are gearing up to respond with increasingly extreme actions - from leaflets spreading disinfo & sending out emails containing fake NHS advice, to storming schools and discussing ways to fake a Covid test.

4/ One protester taunted police w/ photos of a baby born with a deformity, shouting “that’s what they’re doing to kids now, because the mother had the injection” (data shows that pregnant woman are not at an increased risk of having adverse pregnancy outcomes from the vaccine

5/ Ideologies of the UK's vast anti-vaccination network congregating on messaging app Telegram vary from followers of former Pfizer scientist Michael Yeadon, to people whose views come straight from the QAnon conspiracy network #COVID #vaccination #disinformation

6. #ConspiracyTheories are often only able to take root because real govt wrongdoing has eroded public trust. Fatima, 15, told us she's hesitant about getting the vaccine…because the govt "seem like they're making very bad decisions lately”

7/ For Izzy, these actions are frustrating and not representative of her views. But for other more vaccine hesitant adolescents, anti-vaccination material on and offline may have more of an impact #COVID19 #disinformation

8/ While there is concern about what impact the UK’s increasingly extreme anti-vax networks could have, most teens we spoke to just want to get on with being teens. “I think the sooner everyone gets the vaccine, the sooner it’s over” said Luke, 13, who has experienced Long Covid.

If you want to be updated on our work, don't forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter!
👇👇👇
keepingthereceipts.substack.com/welcome

Thanks