HJBR Mar/Apr 2020

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE  I  MAR / APR 2020 37 Mindy L. Calandro, MD, FAAP Pediatric Medicine Baton Rouge Clinic UNFORTUNATELY, Dr. Baldwin’s case is nothing new in the pediatric world. Anti-vax attacks have become so commonplace since the increase in social media usage, that I think many pediatricians think twice before posting pro-vaccine sentiments and support. However, it is my hope that the tide is turning in this war on science and evidence-based medicine. In September 2017, a physician owned practice called Kids Plus Pediatrics in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania suffered a similar attack from anti-vax groups, which included a global attack on their social media platforms, as well as negative online reviews. From their experience, a rapid response network known as “Shots Heard Round the World” was born. This digital online cavalry can be activated by anyone whose online presence is being at- tacked by anti-science and anti-vax groups. Through this response team, we can fight back against social media defamation, have negative reviews removed from social media platforms, and help protect review sites and group practice websites. Their moto is, “If you stand up for vaccine science, we will stand up for you.” It is groups like this that are needed to help defend science and evidence-based medicine, and ultimately, protect the lives that would be lost due to ignorance, irratio- nality, and irresponsible ideology. If you have ever wondered what a coordi- nated, global, anti-vax attack looks like, the physicians from Kids Plus Pediatrics shared their experience as part of the tool kit for handling an attack that is provided through “Shots Heard.” This attack came after a video regarding the importance and safety of the HPV vaccine was published on their practice social media platforms. Now, you might ex- pect that the attack came quickly, but in fact, the barrage from the anti-vax bullies did not start until 23 days, 4 hours, and 30 minutes after the video has initially been posted. In the course of eight days, they had to ban 808 attackers and delete over 10,000 posts. By comparison, in the almost seven years pri- or to this attack, they had banned less than 40 people, and deleted less than 100 posts. They were able to identify that the attack started with a Facebook group called “Vac- cineChoices - Fact VS Fiction, Conversations & Research,” which is a purely anti-vax group. The attackers were not only from all over the United States, but also from Australia, New Zealand, and Italy. After working with the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health to try and identify common characteristics of the attackers, they deter- mined that over 95 percent of the attackers were female, most commonly either 18-24 years of age, or over 50 years old, and were from both political extremes on the right and the left. Once Kids Plus Pediatrics had shut down their Facebook ratings, the attackers were encouraged through postings of other anti-vax cohorts to post reviews on Yelp and Google...clearly having never seen any of these physicians before. Their overall prac- tice ratings between Facebook, Yelp, and Google went from 4.5 stars to 1.3 stars in a matter of two days. It is truly frightening how quickly a coordinated cyber-attack such as this can bring a practice to its knees. Anti-vax bullies are just like all other bul- lies—when you stand your ground and fight back substantively, they fold in the face of courage, strength, and facts, and lose in- terest in throwing punches. As doctors, we can have an incredibly powerful voice in the vaccine discussion, given our extensive evi- dence and fact-based training, experience, and the reputations we have gained within our communities. But, one bold, reasonable voice trying to shout over the cacophony of noise made by a well-organized and emo- tionally driven minority may seem like an in- surmountable task. That is why we must raise our broad, powerful, evidence-based voices together to stand up for truth and science to protect our patients. I encourage you to vis- it www.shotsheard.com to learn more about this amazing group and review their toolkit, which has step by step plans for protecting your social media platforms, as well as a guide for how to handle an attack when it oc- curs. #DoctorsSpeakUP. n “Anti-vax bullies are just like all other bullies—when you stand your ground and fight back sub- stantively, they fold in the face of courage, strength, and facts, and lose interest in throwing punches.”