On April 25, WorldNetDaily published a column by so-called “medical researcher and author” Bill Sardi that is a lengthy rant against vaccines, in which he insisted that recent measles outbreaks have occurred largely among vaccinated people, not the unvaccinated, and that “pro-vaccine advocates do not hold the high scientific ground in the battle over whether to vaccinate or not vaccinate school-age children.”
Three days later, WND published an article by Leo Hohmann seeking to blame a measles outbreak in a Somali-American community in Minnesota on Islam itself, citing a random Muslim cleric that opposes vaccines. In fact, anti-vaxxer activists — much like the ones WND has been promoting over the years — have been aggressively trying to discourage Somali parents in Minnesota from vaccinating their children, something Hohmann omitted from his article.
WND did an update on the Minnesota outbreak in an anonymously written May 10 article. Aside from updating the numbers, it rehashed the same points Hohmann did — namely, blaming Islam itself for it and repeating a baseless attack by anti-Muslim activist Andrew Bostom citing the random anti-vaxxer Muslim cleric.
WND again fails to acknowledge that its anti-vaxxer friends had been lobbying the Somali community. Nor does it explain how its concern over this story jibes with its previous anti-vaxxer advocacy.
Apparently, at WND it’s OK to like vaccines only if you can blame Muslims for ruining it for everyone else.