A doctor's pro vaccine video has gone viral, causing outrage among the anti-vaxxers community. Photo / Facebook
A doctor's pro vaccine video has gone viral, causing outrage among the anti-vaxxers community. Photo / Facebook
Nicole Baldwin didn't think her "fun, educational" video about vaccines would cause such outrage among anti-vaxxers.
It took less than 24 hours for the clip to go viral on the popular video sharing app TikTok and Twitter before the Ohio doctor was copping backlash from hundreds of thousands of people associated with the anti-vaccine movement.
The doctor from Ohio can be seen dancing and gesturing to the song Cupid Shuffle as texts on the screen read: "Vaccines prevent: measles, polio, pertussis, hepatitis, Influenza, HPV, Meningitis, Mumps … Vaccines DON'T: cause Autism."
However, her informative video about why parents should vaccinate their children caused outrage, with anti-vaxxers labelling her as "uneducated".
"Vaccines destroy every ones life, one day you will answer to a higher power for being wilfully ignorant and advocating on the wrong side of history," one Twitter user wrote.
But Dr Baldwin was quick to respond, commenting: "I did. Thanks. 4 years of college. 4 years of medical school. 3 years of paediatric residency. 13 years of clinical practice."
However, it still left her in the firing line with hundreds questioning her credibility as a paediatrician, news.com.au reported.
Ohio paediatrician Nicole Baldwin received death threats after posting a pro-vaccination video on TikTok. Photo / Facebook
She said it was just a fun 'little educational video about vaccines' but 'little did I know how it would take off'. Photo / Twitter
"Try reading a vaccine insert. You know the paper that comes with the vial? It teaches more than all of your years of 'medical training' on vaccines. Vaccines can cause encephalitis which can lead to brain damage which can lead to Autism and sometimes death," a frustrated anti-vaxxer wrote.
Other commenters across her social media platforms referred to vaccines as "poison" and suggested Dr Baldwin was being paid to promote vaccination.
In her video which has been viewed more than 1.5 million times, Dr Baldwin concluded with the message that "vaccinations don't cause autism" — the same phrase that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has on its website, which includes peer-reviewed scientific evidence supporting the statement.
Many Twitter users weighed in on the debate. Photo / Twitter
The doctor's video has been viewed more than 1.5 million times. Photo / Twitter
Dr Baldwin writes that she has received fraudulent reviews on sites such as Google and Yelp, which are harassing her staff and "threatening her practice", in a Facebook post on Friday.
"It has taken a team working around the clock to ban over 5000 attackers from my Facebook page alone. Fraudulent reviews have been posted on multiple rating sites, most notably Google and Yelp. All reviews have been reported and are under investigation," the doctor wrote.
"Attackers have been calling my office and harassing my staff as well as threatening my practice. These calls are under investigation by the police."
Others found the humour in all the outrage. Photo / Twitter
The 42-year-old paediatrician for the Northeast Cincinnati Pediatric Associates in Cincinnati, Ohio, said she created her TikTok account last week because she wanted to reach a different demographic than she does with her other account.
"Obviously, as a paediatrician, I know that vaccines are safe. And I think there's a lot of misconception out there about them," Dr Baldwin told The Enquirer. "I know TikTok has this huge adolescent population as well as some younger adults, so my hope was to spread, you know, that vaccines are safe — spread that message to a different audience than what I'd reached on other social media."
Dr Baldwin says the experience won't stop her from trying to get out the message that vaccines are safe.
