Via The Globe and Mail: Anti-vaccine group launches billboard campaign in Toronto and surrounding area. Excerpt:
An anti-vaccine group has placed dozens of billboards in the Greater Toronto Area suggesting vaccines are risky and that children don’t need immunizations to attend school, a sign of the challenge facing public-health officials at a time when cases of measles are on the rise.
The group, Vaccine Choice Canada, has four different images rotating on 50 digital billboards in Toronto and the surrounding area, according to the Facebook page of Ted Kuntz, the group’s vice-president. The billboards are in a number of locations around the city, including outside of Toronto’s Eaton Centre. Mr. Kuntz wrote that the advertising campaign, which began last week, will run for two weeks and will generate at least two million impressions. In the Facebook post, Mr. Kuntz thanked numerous donors who made the billboard campaign possible.
Vinita Dubey, associate medical officer of health with Toronto Public Health, said the campaign is concerning and should prompt a discussion about banning advertisements that promote false or misleading messages.
“There is legislation available to prevent tobacco companies from advertising,” Dr. Dubey said. “There is some precedent for being more legislative and proactive about messaging."
The World Health Organization has declared vaccine hesitancy, or the refusal or reluctance to be vaccinated, as a top health threat in 2019. B.C. is dealing with a measles outbreak that has so far infected 13 people. Around the world, measles cases and deaths are on the rise and in many countries, it’s linked to falling vaccination rates.
Dr. Dubey said the billboards use “half-truths” to lure people in.
“They play on a truth that you may know, but they don’t quite give you the full story. That’s what gives you the seed of doubt and makes you question," she said.
Natasha Crowcroft, chief of applied immunization research at Public Health Ontario, said the billboards were clearly designed so the casual observer wouldn’t know they were created by an anti-vaccine group. “It’s really poisonous in a really subtle way,” she said.
Vaccine Choice Canada declined an interview request. In an e-mail, Mr. Kuntz said the aim of the campaign is to encourage people to become more educated about vaccines. He did not respond to questions about the group’s funding.
