'Teen Mom 2' star Chelsea Houska Blasted for Watson Cole's Vaccination
"Teen Mom 2" star Chelsea Houska has found herself combating an Internet backlash soon after posting a sweet, innocuous snap of her with her eight-month-old son. Earlier this week, Chelsea posted an Instagram photo of the beaming mom holding up her child Watson Cole. She is co-parenting him with husband Cole DeBoer.
In Touch Weekly reports that one fan on Twitter wrote the comment, "Hopefully you've stopped vaccinating and started researching! #learntherisk." The fan is clearly an anti-vaxxer, or supporter of the anti-vaccination movement.
An unfazed Chelsea indicated that she had been expecting such anti-vaxxing tweets, knowing that the upcoming episode of "Teen Mom 2" will feature Watson getting vaccinated. Various commenters got into the debate. Some were supportive of Chelsea's decision, while others were vaccination skeptics.
The anti-vaccination movement has been around for a long time, but the present-day controversy has largely been fueled by a study done by former medical researcher Andrew Wakefield. His paper, published in the British medical journal "The Lancet" in 1998, provided the foundation for the current anti-vaxxers' claim that vaccines can cause autism in children. "The Lancet" has since retracted the Wakefield paper and said that its claims were false. Wakefield was removed from the U.K. medical registry for dishonesty in research.
Politico notes that the disgraced Wakefield had a meeting with Donald Trump during his campaign last year. Trump reportedly offered Wakefield his support. The Washington Post says that the American anti-vaccination movement has been galvanized by the President's apparent sympathy toward them. In January, President Trump was reportedly considering a federal commission to study vaccine safety, notes Stat News.
For what it's worth, the American Medical Association (AMA) has come out in support of child vaccinations. "The AMA will continue its work to promote public understanding and confidence in the use of vaccines in order to prevent a resurgence in vaccine-preventable illnesses and deaths," said Dr. William E. Kobler, an AMA trustee, according to AMA News.
