In the heyday of Heather Simpson鈥檚 anti-vaccine influencer days, she watched in amazement as her social media accounts blew up with every anti-vaccine post and piece of misinformation she shared.
But if you asked her then, she didn鈥檛 believe that she was spreading misinformation. She was convinced that if she vaccinated her child, the little girl would die. She also remembers pro-vaccine parents attacking her on social media, calling her a 鈥榖aby killer鈥� and repeating over and over that vaccines were safe and effective without addressing any of her fears.
It wasn鈥檛 until the pandemic that she started wondering whether she might be wrong. She turned to websites like , which led her to Dr. Vincent Iannelli, the Texas pediatrician who authors the site. During her interactions with Iannelli, he calmly addressed her concerns, provided solid science, and made her feel confident enough to vaccinate her daughter.
She has since started , a support and information website for parents who have their own concerns about vaccinating.
8 questions with Heather Simpson and Dr. Vincent Iannelli
What led you to the anti-vaccine movement?
Heather Simpson: 鈥淭here was a docuseries right before I became pregnant with my daughter. There were doctors that promised to be middle ground and different people spoke on it, including [Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] at the time.
鈥淗e definitely sounded reasonable, and I thought, you know, he鈥檚 not even saying he鈥檚 anti-vax. He鈥檚 just pro-safe vaccine. Well, I would say he influenced me more than the doctors to not vaccinate.鈥�
You became fairly well-known on social media. Can you talk about talk being an influencer, how it started and what you felt you gained through it? You鈥檝e said it all happened unexpectedly when one of your Facebook posts vent viral.
Simpson: 鈥淚t was very weird. I woke up to having been shared hundreds of times, and a lot of the pro-vax groups took off and I became the girl to hate. And it was odd because I would get so many messages all of a sudden acting as if I was a medical expert. It was wild.
鈥淚 was very lonely in West Texas, and my husband at the time was working all the time. And so I really wanted a community. I didn鈥檛 have that. And that was kind of an answer to prayer at the time.
鈥淢y daughter had sleep apnea very seriously at the time, and I wasn鈥檛 being taken seriously by the medical world. I finally found a doctor to listen and he saved her life. And that was after I talked to so many doctors and begged them to listen.
鈥淚 was so flustered with the medical community, and then this group that I found online, they were listening to me, and I felt like they actually offered answers, you know, 鈥楬ey, maybe your daughter is going through this because of this vaccine,鈥� or, you know, the vitamin K shot. And it just felt like, 鈥極h, my gosh, people are hearing me and listening and maybe having an answer.鈥欌��
During the pandemic you started having doubts, thinking that maybe the vaccines did work. You鈥檝e scrubbed your social media of those anti-vaccine posts. How do you feel when you did that?
Simpson: 鈥淚 was so embarrassed [about the anti-vaccine posts], but I was so confident that if I saved just one kid from getting vaccinated, that I would save a life. You know, once a couple of doctors and scientists talked to me and instead of just saying vaccines are safe and effective over and over at my face, they answered my questions about polysorbate 80 and aluminum and the stuff circulating in that world, [I started to realize that I鈥檇 been wrong.]
鈥淚 truly believed that aluminum would cause inflammation in the brain and result in what we see as autism symptoms. And if it wasn鈥檛 aluminum, it was polysorbate 80, acting like a Trojan horse. We thought this was foolproof. I thought it was foolproof. It took doctors and scientists just breaking it down on exactly why that is physically impossible.
鈥淚 think he worded it that it would take 3,600 doses of, say, the hepatitis B vaccine injected straight into a baby鈥檚 neck to even have a chance of opening up the blood-brain barrier from that amount of Polysorbate 80. They put it in ways and words that I completely understood, and I was like, 鈥極h my gosh, I was so wrong.鈥濃�� But I hadn鈥檛 had a lot of people tackle that directly.
鈥淸Pro-vaccine advocates] would just mock me and say, 鈥榃ell, you hate your child. You want to see babies die,鈥� and 鈥榲accines are safe and effective, do it for the community.鈥� And all I was thinking at the time was, 鈥極K, but if I vaccinate my baby, she鈥檒l die tonight.鈥欌��
Was pediatrician Dr. Vincent Iannelli among the doctors who gave you the information you needed?
Simpson: 鈥淵es. He runs Vaxopedia, and I would absorb so much information off his website. And I found out he was local. And so when we decided to get my daughter vaccinated, we went to him first, and I was freaking out the whole time.
鈥淏ut he was very calm, and I think he told me, you know, 鈥楻each out if she even hiccups weird,鈥� like, 鈥榃e got you.鈥� I didn鈥檛 feel abandoned. I felt like, 鈥楬ey, this is not just to me. This is a community, you know, watching her,鈥� and I joked that she had more energy and more of an appetite after her vaccine than before.鈥�
Dr. Iannelli, tell us a little about how you went about easing Heather Simpson鈥檚 concerns?
Dr. Vincent Iannelli: 鈥淚 think the biggest problem right now is that a lot of people have classified parents who question vaccines as being anti-vax. And that鈥檚 not true. They鈥檙e just scared. People who are anti-vax or the people are like RFK Jr. and Del Bigtree who are pushing out all the misinformation and propaganda. The parents are just scared.
鈥淪o I just ask questions, like what they鈥檙e scared of. A lot of pediatricians now, they kick [parents] out of their practice, or they give them long lectures, or they argue with them. That鈥檚 what you don鈥檛 want to do.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a technique called 鈥榤otivational interviewing,鈥� and that鈥檚 probably the best thing to do. You help them to find the reason and motivation to change because they want to change. They want to vaccinate their kids, and you help them overcome their anxiety.鈥�
Heather, what did it feel like when someone finally asked you what you were scared of? Was that a turning point?
Simpson: 鈥淵es. When I had people actually answer it, explaining away my fears and in a way that made sense, that they were tackling the science and not just shying away and just shaming me, that was huge to me, because it got to a point for me where I realized, 鈥橭K, physically this cannot cause any of the fears that I thought.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檒l go back and read the anti-vax posts now, and they sound like they make so much sense. They really do. Like the logic makes sense for them, and it just takes one little bit of truth to just destroy it all. And I just wish people would stand up to that fight and tackle it head on and realize they are just scared and they want an answer that makes them feel confident.鈥�
You鈥檝e teamed up with Lydia Greene to start the online group Back to the Vax. What happens there?
Simpson: 鈥淪o a lot of parents decide to start vaccinating and find themselves kind of in no man鈥檚 land where they鈥檙e leaving this community. When I was kind of 鈥榚xiled鈥� from the anti-vaccine world, I lost so many friends and real life friends, too. And my daughter lost friends because it was their kids. I saw rumors that I died and was replaced by, I don鈥檛 know, someone from the government. It was very extreme.
鈥淪o this is just a community for people to talk about what they鈥檙e going through and also be like, 鈥楬ey, my kid is going to get their first shot and I am completely freaked out. I know logically we鈥檙e going to do it, but it鈥檚 still shameful to be freaked out鈥� and other people can relate.鈥�
Doctor, you鈥檙e in Texas where there鈥檚 one of the lowest vaccination rates for 2-year-olds in the U.S. On the other hand, we鈥檙e seeing that in Spartanburg County, S.C., there鈥檚 been a 162% jump in vaccinations in January. Do you think people like Heather are helping?
Iannelli: 鈥淚 think it definitely helps to hear people who have changed their mind and just hearing people who combat the misinformation.
鈥淲hen you really get to the bottom of it, when you鈥檙e talking to people on all sides, they want their child to live. Like, we both have the same goal. So asking, 鈥榃hat, are you actually scared of?鈥� actually kind of gets to the heart of it.鈥�
This interview was edited for clarity.
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produced and edited this interview for broadcast with . Miller-Medzon also produced it for the web.
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