America has Jenny McCarthy. Australia has Michael Leunig.

‘Course Melbourne artist Leunig has long protested that he’s not *specifically* anti-vaccination, rather that he has a “grey area stance” on the matter. Even though all artistic evidence make his thoughts pretty fkn blunt, TBH.

Today’s cartoon, published in Fairfax papers, kinda removes any lingering doubt.

Oy vey, where to begin with that. The short-sighted bastardisation of religious iconography? The needle-sharing imagery that evokes the Hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS shock campaigns of yore? The insinuation that science is somehow a blindly followed cult without reason beyond “belief”? Or even the the abstract thought that maybe the people in charge of looking after public health are deliberately forcing something onto children that isn’t in the interests of public health?

Leunig’s newest batch of railing against the non-existent machine is in the wake of the Victorian State Government‘s planned “No Jab, No Play” legislation that will bar any unvaccinated children from attending public schools.

And hell hath no fury like the backlash against a misguided opinion re: science on the internet.

Hell, when even hyper-conservative 3AW announcer Tom Elliott chimes in to say you’re done goofed, it’s probably safe to say that you’ve proper done goofed.

Still, if the occasional nose-turned-up cartoon from an artist tucked away safe in the Fitzroy bubble is the loudest voice the movement has in this country, then we’re not doing too badly at all.

And, as always, the definitive source for all your scientific worries vis-à-vis vaccinations and their potential harm can be found here.

The Michael Leunig Appreciation Facebook pageYe Olde Anti-Vaxxer Script

This letter was sent by Michael Leunig as a reply to a woman who took exception to his cartoon (published in The…

Posted by Michael Leunig Appreciation Page on Tuesday, 18 August 2015

Photo via Twitter.

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