How vaccine skeptics use storytelling effectively to create powerful but medically inaccurate messaging

Vaccine skeptics have been around as long as vaccines have – for more than 200 years. Volanthevist/Moment via Getty Images

As long as there have been vaccines, there have been people who doubted their science and safety.

Back in 19th-century England, people rioted against a mandatory smallpox vaccine, claiming that it violated civil rights and was an affront to human bodily integrity. In the United States, organizations dedicated to resisting vaccines have existed since the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League of Brooklyn was established in 1894.