The Columbia County “Anti-Vaxxers” Respond

In a recent article on “Anti-Vaxxers,” Will Solomon accuses the website DoWeNeedThis (and anyone connected to it) of “spreading misleading and often false information on vaccines and COVID mitigation measures and exhibiting disturbing ties to extreme right movements and trends.” As some of the people concerned, and as neighbors and longtime community members, we have a few observations to share, starting with how we are being labelled as “anti-vaxxer.” It is a well-honed tactic of the vaccine lobby to label anyone who questions any vaccine, in any circumstances, as an “anti-vaxxer” rather than actually engaging in a debate about safety and efficacy.

In his long article, Solomon develops his theory that we have “disturbing ties to the extreme right” with the typical six degrees of separation trope. He recounts that DoWeNeedThis did a fundraiser for Informed Consent Action Network whose founder, Del Bigtree, has literally thousands of hours of video on the internet (www.thehighwire.com)  and hundreds of pages of information on the website. No journalist has found any racist, anti-Semitic, or extreme right wing statements to quote from Bigtree, for the good reason that he abhors all of these. Yet according to pro-vaxxers like Solomon, Del once spoke at an event with multiple speakers and one of them was… a far-right person.

It’s not clear to us why being linked to the extreme right (or left) is even relevant to the arguments for or against masking children, or to the question of vaccine mandates. For the record, most people in our circles have voted independent and democrat for decades, and many of us have been active in progressive causes. Yet most articles written about the “anti-vaxxers” who question the covid vaccine, assert that these wrongthinkers are somehow or other connected to the far right.

On the other hand, Will Solomon gave ample space to a local extremist of a different genre, Michael Richardson of Hatewatch Report. Among other quotes, Richardson says this: “When we say ‘freedom,’ we’re saying the same thing, but we look at it in completely different ways,” he says. “Freedom to what? Freedom to infect me? Freedom to kill my grandma in the nursing home? What freedom are you talking about?”

Richardson (who has no medical training) is not following the science on this one, because back in August, Rochelle Walensky of the CDC said that fully vaccinated people who get a breakthrough infection can transmit covid Or look at a recent CNN headline: Cornell University, reported more than 900 Covid-19 Cases. Many are Omicron variant cases in fully vaccinated students.  Cornell is 97% vaccinated and everyone has been required to wear masks indoors since the start of the school year.  The world’s most prestigious medical journal, the Lancet, recently published an article that called for an end to stigmatizing the unvaccinated because the data shows that vaccination is not preventing transmission.

Michael Richardson runs a website called HateWatch Report.   Richardson moved to Columbia County from downstate a few years ago, and bought a home in Chatham, a charming town which is 96% white and 1.7% black.  At some point Richardson became concerned that many Hudson Valley residents were haters and far-right extremists.  To combat this, Richardson encourages neighbors to denounce other neighbors on his website. According to Richardson’s HateWatchReport, putting a Betsy Ross flag ( the 1776 flag with 13 stars) or the “Don’t Tread on Me” flag can be symbols of White Supremacy.  Richardson posts on his website photographs of homes in the county with such flags out front. To our knowledge, he never went and asked any of these people (his neighbors) what this flag means to them and why they have it in front of their home.

Oddly, although many fancy Columbia County homes have Betsy Ross flags out front, all of the homes Richardson posts as examples examples of hate are modest working class homes, the type that have a few pick-up trucks in the driveway. In his combat against “hate” in Columbia County, Richardson seems immune to irony.

Just to be clear, all of us at DoWeNeedThis agree that, in theory, a lawn flag could be offensive and hurtful. Unfortunately for Michael Richardson and thankfully for the rest of us, almost no one in Columbia County flies a confederate flag on their lawn. It seems to us that if someone does have one, the best approach would be for their neighbors to go talk to them about why this flag is offensive to all Americans, and frightening to many.

While pro-vaxxers like Solomon and Richardson blow a lot of hot air about “disturbing ties” to the far-right bogeyman, they almost  never engage on the actual arguments about covid vaccine safety or risk/benefit analysis, especially for children. In his article, Solomon, objects to the statement on a DoWeNeedThis flyer that: “No Healthy Child has Died of Covid-19.”

We based this sentence on numerous studies and articles. For example a BBC article headlined:  “Covid, Childrens extremely low risk confirmed by study” which linked to a UK study of children hospitalized with covid, nearly every one of whom had extremely serious underlying conditions.  

We could also cite a study that came out in Nature Journal, one of the most prestigious scientific journals in the world. This study concluded that for most children covid symptoms are mild while the immunity conferred by infection is far more robust and long lasting than the immunity conferred by the vaccine. This was covered by former NY Times reporter Alex Berenson (also a Hudson Valley resident).  In other words, everyone would be better off if we let children and young people get covid and develop a strong and lasting immunity.

This viewpoint was expressed 18 months ago by top scientists from Harvard, Stanford and Oxford in the Great Barrington Declaration (neighbors again). These famous scientists who have worked in the past with the C.D.C. and N.I.H developing and studying vaccines, advocated the approach to pandemic mitigation called “focused protection.” They do not support vaccinating healthy children or young adults.

We agree with the River that this is a critical time in our country’s history and that the question of covid vaccine mandates is vitally important. The people of the Hudson River valley deserve an honest and open debate on vaccine mandates. Perhaps the River would sponsor a virtual debate between Vaxxers and Anti-Vaxxers? For the “Against Vaxx Mandates” side, we would propose inviting Martin Kulldorff, Harvard epidemiologist (formerly on the FDA committee that studies vaccine safety) and/or Alex Berenson, writer, former NY Times reporter, author of “Pandemia” and Hudson Valley resident. For the other side, we leave it to your discretion who can best represent your point of view on vaccine mandates.   

Sincerely yours,

Leland Lehrman

Stu Summer

Erich Kress