Immunize Yourself Against Snake Oil

Artist: Claire Ramsey

Materials: sterling silver, vintage snakebite kit, hand embroidered wool, canine vaccination tag

Dimensions: 4 1/2" x 2 3/4" 

Beneficiary: The mission of Vaccinate Your Family is to protect people of all ages from vaccine-preventable diseases by:
Raising awareness of the critical need for timely immunizations
Increasing the public’s understanding of the benefits of vaccines
Increasing confidence in the safety of vaccines
Ensuring that all families have access to lifesaving vaccines
Advocating for policies that support timely vaccination

Artist Statement: I fabricated a badge because immunization, in two senses, is on my mind.

No scientific evidence exists that vaccines are unsafe. Yet anti-vaccine propaganda has led to mass delusions and outbreaks of deadly diseases that were nearly extinct. In 2019, Seattle was called an “anti-vaccine hot spot” by the Public Library of Science.

Worse, deep into a pandemic, we swim in a cesspool of snake oil. A presidential jackass brays daily about a speedy COVID19 vaccine, a deceit via snake oil purely for political gain.

In 1802 people feared the smallpox vaccine would make little cow heads grow from patients’ arms! In 2020 we know better.

Philosopher Stephen Law* urges us to immunize ourselves against “the wiles of conspiracy theorists, cultists, political zealots, religious nutcases, and promoters of flaky alternative medicines. . .” (p. 11).

Immunize means demand credible evidence!

Immunize yourself against the bullshit!!

Be wise! Immunize!

* Believing Bullshit (2011)