‘Flu shot cheerleader’ speaks out on being used by anti-vaxxer movement

A screenshot of Desiree Jennings in 2009, when she became briefly known as the ‘flu shot cheerleader’. Jennings has now spoken out about her realization that she was used then abandoned by the baseless anti-vaccine movement. Photograph: Inside Edition video screengrab via YouTube

The woman who was once known as the “flu shot cheerleader” and briefly became the poster girl for the anti-vaccine movement is now speaking out about her realization that she was used as the movement’s “PR machine”.

In a new interview with NBC, Desiree Jennings – who in 2009 was cast into the national spotlight after she went on video and expressed her belief that her seasonal flu shot led to an unexplainable disability involving erratic movements and slurred speech – said that vaccine skeptics recruited her, sensationalized her story and ultimately discarded her after she was accused of being a fraud.