The coronavirus pandemic has amped up vaccine makers, scientists and researchers to come up with a new global vaccine that would save the world from its virus-laden self. It's 'all hands on deck' and money is no object - just get it done! In the meantime, the pro-vaccine machine is already laying down a carpet bomb of propaganda to smear anyone and everyone who has something negative to say about vaccines. 

The smear term, 'anti-vaxxer' is routinely used to portray concerned citizens and parents as kooks who ignorantly stand against all vaccines, without exception. 

This is not the case, however, with the vast majority of people who are questioning vaccine safety. There are two distinct lines of caution and resistance:

1. Does the government have the power or right to force citizens to inject a foreign substance of any kind into their bodies against their will?
2. Certain vaccines have been proven to be harmful but the evidence gets swept under the rug. Citizens want careful testing procedures put in place, with the results published in full with complete transparency. This has not yet happened. 

If someone declares an interest in vaccine safety, they are immediately branded as 'anti-vaxxers'. If someone questions any safety report issued by Big Pharma or government research facilities, they are swept aside as 'anti-vaxxers'. If a citizen takes 10 vaccines and then rejects even one, they are 'anti-vaxxers'. 

This belittling smear is seen throughout current headlines such as, Hey, anti-vaxxers, are you ready to get your shots yet? from the Los Angeles Times and 'Crazymothers' Want You to Stop Calling Them 'Anti-Vaxxers'from LiveScience. 

In November 2019, Robert F. Kennedy was smeared for being the 'single leading source of anti-vax ads on Facebook.' Even though liberal on many other issues, Kennedy is targeted and censored over vaccines.

In June 2019, Dr. Joseph Mercola's web site traffic was crushed by Google's search engine. RationalWiki helped to bring him down with this, 

"A member of the right-wing quack outfit Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. Mercola advocates and provides a forum for many classic crank medical ideas, such as vaccine hysteria and the belief that modern (sorry, "allopathic") medicine kills more people than it helps. His website is a veritable spring of pseudoscience, quackery, and logical fallacies. He is also a promoter of the idea of an AMA/Big Pharma/FDA conspiracy."

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) was founded in 1945 and is a veritable alternative to the AMA for doctors who value the patient-physician relationship. Since I have personally delivered two major presentations to AAPS in recent years and met many of its members, I can say with absolute certainty that the RationalWiki hit piece is blatantly false and mean-spirited... but, it had its desired effect anyway. 

Across the board now, virtually all major social media platforms are banning negative talk against vaccines:

• Anti-Vaccine Posts on Facebook, Instgram and Twitter Could Be Banned Under New UK Laws
• How social media is trying to contain misinformation over vaccines
• YouTube Just Demonetized Anti-Vax Channels
• Anti-vaccine movies disappear from Amazon after CNN Business report

There is obviously a larger agenda here, and that is to paint all critics of vaccines as right-wing nuts, even though people like Mercola and Kennedy are not 'right wingers' at all. Once declared evil, stupid or just ignorant, all such critics are summarily kicked out of the vaccine discussion. 

Because of blatant disregard for the First Amendment and the U.S. Constitution, we can understand why Benjamin Franklin wrote, "Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech."