Kat Von D: The make-up mogul who has reignited 'anti-vax' row
Kat Von D might not be a household name to everyone, but the celebrity tattooist-turned-make-up mogul is extremely influential in her field, with a social media reach of millions.
In recent days the pregnant 36-yearold has found herself at the centre of a huge online row after announcing on Instagram that she and her husband plan to raise their son vegan and vaccination-free. Many fans have accused her of being irresponsible for airing anti-vaccination views to a huge audience - with a growing movement threatening to boycott her brand.
After the huge backlash, she finally addressed the scandal on Thursday, asserting their right to medical privacy and complaining about online harassment. But in recent days some had praised her for speaking out - asserting her, and their right, to choose how they raise their children.
Experts say this logic is flawed because widespread immunisation is integral to keeping society as a whole, and especially its most vulnerable, protected. Despite science overwhelmingly and indisputably advocating in favour of immunisation, a growing number of parents around the world are resisting medical advice by going their own way.
Californian couple Gina and Jeremy Frattini also raise their 5 children vegan and choose not to have them immunised. They share posts about their lifestyle online with thousands of followers. Gina says her oldest children had a limited immunisation schedule, but vowed to stop giving any further injections after her twoyear-old son suffered cardiac arrest shortly after receiving a DTAP (Diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis) vaccine.
Although Kat Von D did not elaborate on why she was questioning vaccination, many who take a similar stance base their views on a study - now thoroughly discredited - that claimed the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab was linked to autism. Some vegans resist vaccinations because animal by-products are found in them.
After an outbreak of measles at Disneyland in 2015, Californian state officials passed a controversial law that restricted non-medical (personal and religious) exemptions for children entering private or public schools without immunisations. Data shows that nursery school vaccination rates jumped after the law passed. Those without protection instead often get homeschooled, like the Frattini family - but are still subject to state testing.
"It's her uterus, it's her body, it's her child - it's their child together and it's 110% her choice," Gina says, in support of Kat Von D. But experts, and most politicians, disagree. A number of laws have been enacted around the world to try to coerce parents into opting into immunisation.
Alison Bernstein, 39, is a neuroscientist and assistant professor at Michigan State University. She speaks out under the username Mommy PHD against pseudo- scientific misinformation among parenting communities.
She expresses sympathy with Gina's son's story, but insists that on a population-wide level, the vaccine injury risk is overall low. She urges people consult with doctors if they have concerns, rather than abstaining. "Do I care if you dye your kid's hair blue? No - because it doesn't really affect anyone else," she says. "But this affects people around you. It affects every child that your kid interacts with."
She explains that diseases have different contagion levels and vaccinations only work effectively if a high enough percentage of the community get them to stop the disease spreading: a concept known as herd immunity. "It's a luxury of herd immunity that our generation has never seen anyone with these sorts of diseases - but they will come back and are coming back."
A recent study has identified a number of non-medical exemptions "hot spots" in the US that experts believe are vulnerable to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. Dr Bernstein says these pockets often emerge when information is shared by word-of-mouth but worries that online communities of so-called anti-vaxxers are creating "echo-chambers" in a similar way.
She disagrees with Kat Von D speaking publicly. "In the online world, the amount of followers you have is a type of power," says Dr Bernstein. "Your words have power even though you have not an ounce of expertise in medicine, science, vaccine, immunology, microbiology or infectious disease."
(Courtesy BBC)