This is a very old antivax trope. Antivaxxers have been claiming that vaccines cause infertility for as long as I can remember since I first started paying attention to the antivaccine movement. Unfortunately, this claim resonates. The disinformation works. 1/
https://twitter.com/drbrignall/status/1468254465111244804
It worked in Kenya in 2014, when antivaxxers claimed that the tetanus vaccine caused infertility in young women. 2/ respectfulinsolence.com/2014/11/13/cat…
It worked in Nigeria in 2004, when an antivax crank claimed that the polio vaccine was contaminated with "sterilizing agents."3/ 
And in Kenya again in 2015... 4/ respectfulinsolence.com/2015/08/12/the…
This particular claim that vaccines sterilize young women has been parroted by those in wealthier countries, like Canada. 5/ respectfulinsolence.com/2015/03/23/no-…
More recently, right at home, antivaxxers have long been trying to claim that HPV vaccines like Gardasil sterilize young women. Usually the claim has been made without evidence that Gardasil causes premature ovarian insufficiency. 6/ sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-claim-that…
So of course antivaxxers resurrected the claim that vaccines sterilize our womenfolk when they're young and before they can do what God intended: Have lots of babies. (Yes, that's sarcasm.) I first wrote about it a year ago. 7/ sciencebasedmedicine.org/it-was-inevita…
Unsurprisingly, the claim that vaccines sterilize our womenfolk has persisted and evolved. 8/ sciencebasedmedicine.org/covid-19-vacci…
The claim that vaccines cause infertility is related to the idea that vaccines somehow permanently "contaminate" our precious bodily fluids, rendering us ill and inferior. 9/ sciencebasedmedicine.org/covid-19-vacci…
This emphasis on "purity" versus "contamination" that somehow renders us less fertile (particularly, but not exclusively, women) sometimes leads to some hilariously ridiculous consequences. 10/
https://twitter.com/patriottakes/status/1468256489412317185
Much less ridiculous are the consequences of the claim that "vaccinated blood" is "contaminated." Some antivaxxers even to refuse to accept transfusions from people who have received #CovidVaccine. This sort of misinformation can lead to death. 11/ respectfulinsolence.com/2021/06/04/big…
If you wonder why I keep repeating my mantras, "In the age of #COVID19, everything antivax that was old is new again" and "There is nothing truly new under the sun in antivax pseudoscience and conspiracy theories." What we're seeing now is just the same ol', same ol' rehashed.12/
You'll also forgive me if, once again, I express frustration at my colleagues for their previous "shruggie" attitudes before the pandemic and their shock at seeing tropes and conspiracy theories that we've been debunking for decades go mainstream. 13/ sciencebasedmedicine.org/a-shruggie-awa…
And don't get me started on the downright hostile attitude some prominent colleagues expressed towards those of us trying to counter health misinformation and antivax pseudoscience before the pandemic. 14/ respectfulinsolence.com/2020/12/11/vin…
As an aside, unsurprisingly, some of these scoffers went on to become #COVID19 contrarians, spreading misinformation of their own during the pandemic. 15/ sciencebasedmedicine.org/road-to-hell/
If you're surprised by any of these conspiracy theories (such as #CovidVaccines sterilizing women), quite simply, you weren't paying attention before. If you had, then maybe we as a profession would have been less unprepared for the current tsunami of antivax disinformation. 16/
Don't get me wrong. I'm glad you're paying attention now. I just hope you'll *continue* to pay attention after #COVID19 finally abates. In fact, I'd ask you to expand your newfound awareness and start paying attention to *other* health misinformation and conspiracy theories. 17/
Health misinformation, be it antivax, cancer quackery, or whatever, can kill, and in the case of a pandemic antivax and anti-public health (e.g., antimask) disinformation can kill hundreds of thousands. 18/18
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