‘Dingbats’: Australians say what they really think about anti-vaxxers
Social scientists worry that the hostility will just entrench vaccine refusal
‘Overprivileged dingbats’, ‘self-indulgent scum’ and ‘ill-informed idiots’: these are among the epithets applied to vaccine refusers by pro-vaccination Australians — and it is doing harm, researchers say.
Melbourne social scientists who surveyed people in favour of vaccination say they’ve uncovered a concerning level of hostility and stigmatisation of vaccine-refusers.