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home / 世界杯决赛2022

as preparations for children's vaccines ramp up, so do anti-vax attacks

the imminent vaccination campaign of children between five and 11 has ramped up anti-vaccine sentiment and vitriol among some.

by elizabeth payne

nov 3 2021
read time 4 minute read
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with the countdown on for canadian approval of covid-19 vaccines for children, ottawa family physician dr. nili kaplan-myrth has begun pre-registering children in her practice for their shots. but she has no plans to organize a mass vaccination jabapalooza as she did for adults.
it is too potentially dangerous.
kaplan-myrth spent part of this week on the phone with lawyers and the police after a death threat targeting her was sent to the ontario college of physicians and surgeons in the form of a complaint.
it is not the first threat the activist doctor has received involving vaccinating children against covid-19.
the imminent vaccination campaign of children between five and 11 has ramped up anti-vaccine sentiment and vitriol among some.
kaplan-myrth is outspoken and a frequent voice on social media in favour of covid-19 vaccines and public health measures. she and other outspoken medical experts have occasionally become targets of trolls, but this time seems different, she said.
“if we say anything about giving covid-19 vaccinations to kids and if we don’t limit comments, we are bombarded by nasty and threatening stuff.”
earlier, kaplan-myrth received a threat on twitter from someone who said she would end up in the hospital if she dared to immunize their child.
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“pediatricians and family doctors and infectious disease experts and anybody who is saying right now on twitter or in any other way that we are gearing up to be able to immunize kids then we are bombarded by trolls, and it is pretty vile stuff,” she said.
“nobody ever said to me, ‘you are going to end up in hospital,’ when i was promoting vaccines for adults.”
it is among the reasons she is being lower-key when it comes to vaccinating children — which is expected to begin in canada, once the pfizer vaccine under review is approved, within weeks.
earlier this week, a doctoral student in public health said she was bombarded with vitriol after tweeting about vaccinating kids and halloween safety.
“have been called all kinds from child abuser to saying i want to kill my child to threats of violence against me,” sabina vohra-miller said.
some doctors in the u.s. have talked about receiving threats around the issue of children’s vaccinations. other health experts in ontario have spoken out about being the targets of racist social media attacks throughout the pandemic.
dr. liz muggah, president of the ontario college of family physicians, called the threat against kaplan-myrth “absolutely unacceptable.”
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“we stand behind her as a family physician and someone who is supporting her patients and her community. she really shouldn’t be facing these safety concerns because she is sharing this evidence based information.”
muggah says it is an “incredibly charged time” in the pandemic, but threats and abusive behaviour are never acceptable.
kaplan-myrth gained attention for organizing several mass covid-19 vaccination clinics in ottawa that she dubbed jabapalooza. thousands of people were vaccinated at these events.
she says she has no regrets about being an advocate for access to covid-19 vaccines and other issues.
“to those of us who do (advocate) we see it as really integral to taking care of our community. if we didn’t advocate our patients would have been in line scrambling around trying to get vaccines”
although she has no regrets, kaplan-myrth says she doesn’t like “the feeling of being totally left on my own.” police have advised her to increase security at work and at home.
she was contacted by the college of physicians and surgeons of ontario on monday, telling her they had received a letter about her and she should contact police. kaplan-myrth noted that the college received the letter on oct. 20, but didn’t notify her for 12 days and did not contact police.

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the rambling letter to the college, which goes on for 17 pages, is copied to a number of other people, including prime minister justin trudeau and canada’s chief public health officer, dr. theresa tam. among other things, it says it is “legal and lawful to kill her (kaplan-myrth)“ under canadian and international law, and members of the college, too, “if you side with her barbarian pseudoscientific ass.”
kaplan-myrth said she wanted to speak out about the vitriol she and others routinely receive for being vocal about vaccines and public health so people understood it.
“people don’t have any idea that merely by saying i am going to help people to get vaccines then i am receiving these threats. having gone to the college (of physicians and surgeons) it is a more intense kind of threat.”
the college said it would let her know whether it is being treated as a legitimate complaint. the college is required to investigate legitimate complaints against doctors. but in a statement, the college said its legislated complaints process focuses solely on complaints about clinical care and professional behaviour.
“our role is not to resolve political disagreements when clinical care/outcomes or professional conduct is not in question. physicians can play an important role by advocating for their patients in a socially accountable manner and frivolous or vexatious complaints are not a risk to their professional standing with the cpso.”

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earlier, the college dismissed complaints against a toronto trauma surgeon who advocated for tighter gun control. a firearm advocacy group filed some 70 complaints against the surgeon that the college deemed frivolous and vexatious and did not investigate.

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