https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/5/18251807/senate-anti-vax-vaccines-congressional-hearing-ethan-lindenberger-ohio-teen

Ethan Lindenberger, an 18-year-old from Ohio who defied his parents’ anti-vaccination beliefs by getting inoculated, appeared today before Congress to promote vaccine education and outreach campaigns. Lindenberger was one of five people who testified in a Senate committee hearing titled “Vaccines Save Lives: What Is Driving Preventable Disease Outbreaks?” According to experts, the answer is complex — but it’s often centered on a communications gap between medical institutions and parents concerned by vivid conspiracy theories on social media.

Lindenberger opened his testimony with a story that’s gotten wide media coverage: after growing up without inoculation against diseases like measles and polio, he questioned his mother’s claims that vaccines caused autism and brain damage, then began independently catching up on his shots last year. “My mother would turn to anti-vaccine groups online and on social media looking for her evidence and defense, rather than health officials and through credible sources,” he said. “Her love, affection, and care as a parent was used to push an agenda to create false distress, and these sources which spread misinformation should be the primary concern of the American people.”