Apparently anti-vaccine sentiment is on the rise in America, and it’s causing a resurgence in cases of vaccine-preventable diseases in children such as measles and chickenpox. The Washington Post has a new story about the issue today:
An Ohio measles outbreak among unvaccinated children comes at a time of heightened concern about the public health consequences of anti-vaccine sentiment. https://t.co/nMHCnqEJej
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 26, 2022
Notice anything about that tweet? Here’s a screenshot:
See it yet?
But the poke doesn’t have anything to do with measles.
— Eddie W (@EddieW11) December 26, 2022
OK, well, that’s definitely one of the issues here. COVID vaccine skepticism is not the same as being anti-vaxx in general. All-around anti-vaxxers do pose a threat to children’s health as well as the health of the immunocompromised, and vaccines like those for measles and mumps and diptheria and polio and whatnot have been around for a very long time and have been well and comprehensively studied. That’s just not the case for COVID vaccines.
I’m not anti vax but I didn’t have my kids get the Covid vaccine. It’s new, rushed, and doesn’t prevent spread or infection. My kids have all the vax that have been around a long time and prevent infection.I think the handling of the Covid vax turned new parents against vaccines
— SaraMarie (@Mrs_Shannon82) December 26, 2022
But let’s look at the tweet some more. What else do you see?
Ohio outbreak = photo from NY? Why is that?
— Tzippy Yarom-Diskind صِپورة #JusticeForMalkiRoth (@zpyarom) December 26, 2022
Why, indeed? Here’s how the photo appears in the actual article, too:
The caption below the photo in the Washington Post’s piece reads, “An Orthodox Jewish man walks with his children in Brooklyn during large measles outbreaks in 2019 that spread rapidly among hundreds of unvaccinated people in these New York communities.”
This photo of a Brooklyn Orthodox Jewish woman appears in the article as well:
The entire article contains three photos (as well as a tweet from the Alaska Department of Health), yet two of the photos are of Brooklyn Jews. In 2019, which, last time we checked, is not 2022. This is the third photo:
A close-up of a hand that could be anyone’s administering an MMR vaccine to a child who could be anyone’s. Pretty generic.
And if you actually read the article, the 2019 measles outbreak is discussed in just one paragraph, and that’s the only paragraph where New York Orthodox Jewish communities are mentioned:
In recent years, many of the measles cases reported to the CDC have occurred in underimmunized, close-knit communities, where anti-vaccine misinformation has gained a foothold. In 2019, the United States reported the highest annual number of measles cases — 1,294 — in more than 25 years; three-fourths of those cases occurred among New York’s Orthodox Jewish communities. Outbreaks have also occurred among the Amish in Ohio and Eastern European groups in the Pacific Northwest.
The article is not mainly concerned with anti-vaccine sentiment in New York, but in states around the country. So why use an image of Orthodox Jews to grab people’s attention?
Ohio outbreak with a photo of NY Jewish people. https://t.co/ItOZ0hxD8u
— Sean Nienow (@SNienow) December 26, 2022
Subtle AF, Washington Post.
Hey @wapo why is there a picture of a hasidic Jewish father and his kids when the outbreak is primarily in the Somali community in Columbus OH? You doing the @nytimes style antisemitic reporting too? https://t.co/h2JAOKh3e0
— Hugh Moore (@chochmalog) December 26, 2022
Why two photos of visibly Jewish people in a story that has nothing to do with them?
— Moshe Y. Gluck (@moshegluck) December 26, 2022
Why is there a photo of visible Jews in a story that has nothing to do with Jews but does have to do with contagious diseases? https://t.co/fmbPmf8Vtf
— Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) December 26, 2022
Because for millennia, Jews have been the scapegoats of choice. Who is the Washington Post to question that time-honored tradition?
No, this is totally okay, because the Times already told us it's okay to hate on Hasidic Jews, so this is the obvious picture to use on a story about a 2022 outbreak in Ohio that has nothing to do with them.
Oh, & the actual science on the 2019 outbreak: https://t.co/3dK7kHUcXk https://t.co/QETX7BJHZR
— The Meturgeman (@HaMeturgeman) December 26, 2022
A @wapo story about vaccine hesitancy in an Ohio Somali community has ZERO photos of Somalis and TWO photos of Hasidic Jews from NY.
Either there's a terrible shortage of appropriate stock photos, or WaPo has a disgusting Antisemitic agenda that deserves condemnation.
Pick one. https://t.co/nF42XKtVms
— Joel M. Petlin (@Joelmpetlin) December 26, 2022
"Tell me you hate Jews without saying you hate Jews." https://t.co/igsvwg8pOk
— Laura Rosen Cohen 🪬 🪬 🪬 (@LauraRosenCohen) December 26, 2022
At this point, the Washington Post — like the rest of the mainstream media — just needs to come right out and say it. We all know they mean it. Just be open and honest about it.
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with an additional tweet.
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Related:
‘Should be ashamed’! WaPo dragged for publishing this horrendous ‘anti-Semitic hot take’
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