On Thursday, Jenny McCarthy took to her Twitter profile to chat with her fans. Little did she know that she would soon be slammed by those fans for her decision not to have her children vaccinated.
“What is the most important personality trait you for in a mate? Reply using #JennyAsks,” The View host asked her 1.3 million followers.
In recent years, Jenny has been very open about her thoughts on vaccinations, and their connection to children developing autism. A 2008 poll found that nearly one in four adults were familiar with Jenny’s beliefs, and forty percent of those adults said that her beliefs make them question the safety of vaccines.
Doctors claim there is no connection between vaccines and autism, and by having a celebrity share this misinformation could lead to more children going without their immunizations.
“Jenny McCarthy’s unfounded claims about the dangers of vaccines has been one of the greatest impediments to efforts to vaccinate children in recent decades,” the executive director of Every Child by Two Amy Pisani said. “Children have died due to this misinformation.”
Fans held nothing back when responding to Jenny’s question. Although she didn’t ask about vaccines, that is the turn that the conversation took. One follower even blamed Jenny for measles returning to New York City. “Loving the replies to #JennyAsks, measles are back in the nyc thanks to @JennyMcCarthy and every anti-vax internet expert/idiot like her,” the follower wrote. Another Twitter user simply wrote, “vaccinations.”
What is the most important personality trait you look for in a mate? Reply using #JennyAsks
— Jenny McCarthy (@JennyMcCarthy) March 13, 2014
Loving the replies to #JennyAsks, measles are back in the nyc thanks to @JennyMcCarthy and every anti-vax internet expert/idiot like her.
— Sheila Larkin (@SheilaSays) March 16, 2014
@JennyMcCarthy @PatFrmMoonachie
Vaccinations. #JennyAsks
— Case Laughlin (@claugh) March 14, 2014
Jenny is not the only celebrity who fears childhood vaccinations. Kristin Cavallari, the former star of Laguna Beach and The Hills, recently made her opinions, on the issue, known as well. During an interview with HuffPost Live, Cavallari revealed that she did not vaccinate her one-year-old son Camden, and doesn’t plan on vaccinating her new son, who she is currently pregnant with, either.
“Vaccines are not something I wanted to publicly come out and speak on. I sort of got bombarded in this interview and thrown off-guard,” she said. “There’s really scary statistics out there, and to each their own. Autism wasn’t prevalent — like it is now — years ago, so something is going on, whether it’s the chemicals in our food or the vaccines. Something is happening, and we can’t really ignore that. I choose to believe that I think it’s in the vaccines but, again, to each their own and that’s where I stand on it.”
Image via Twitter