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June 26, 2002
U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS
"Content and Design Attributes of Antivaccination Web Sites" Journal of the American Medical Association Online
(http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v287n24/abs/jbr20117.html)
(06/26/02) Vol. 287, No. 24,; Wolfe, Robert; Sharp, Lisa K.; Lipsky, Martin S.
Robert M. Wolfe, M.D., and colleagues from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, used a metasearch program to review 22 antivaccination Web sites, examining the content and design of the sites to look at the specific claims and concerns expressed by the antivaccination groups. The study determined that 100 percent of the antivaccination Web sites made claims that immunizations cause idiopathic illness, 95 percent of the Web sites claimed that vaccines erode immunity and that vaccine reactions are underreported, and 91 percent assert that vaccine programs are based on profit. The most common design features were links to other antivaccination Web sites, information for avoiding immunizations legally, and stories of children who fell ill after receiving vaccinations.
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