Getting the needIe

How a group of protesters are campaigning against the vaccine roll-out

- HANNAH DAVIES, NATASHA HOLT, IAN MACEWAN

When the approval of a vaccine for COVID-19 was announced in December 2020, the news was greeted with joy around the world as a potentially game-changing way out of the pandemic.

However, not everyone was so delighted. Quickly, conspiracy theories began to circulate and a growing number of people started to oppose the vaccine roll-out. In the UK alone, it’s estimated that there are more than five million anti-vaxxers, led by the likes of former actor Laurence Fox.

According to new C4 documentary The Anti-Vax Conspiracy, the seeds were sown in 1998 when former physician Andrew Wakefield falsely claimed that the MMR vaccine caused autism in children.