The persistent appeal of the vaccine-autism myth, no matter how many times and in how many ways it has been debunked, is that it gives parents who see difference as tragedy something external to blame. It's not the genetic lottery. It's not parental age. It's the jab, they tell themselves, egos safely protected. Similarly, for new parents who are following willowy momfluencers to help them figure out how to perfect and optimize a new and daunting chapter in their lives, not getting their kids vaccinated is a way to feel in control of something that is, in fact, not in any of our control. Much like the promise of wellness itself.

QUESTION: Worth exploring the psychology of control-seeking in modern parenting decisions beyond vaccination.

Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, loc. 659