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Informed Consent Action Network

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Informed Consent Action Network
AbbreviationICAN
Formation2016
FounderDel Bigtree
PurposeAnti-vaccination advocacy group
Location
Official language
English
CEO
Del Bigtree
Chief Operating Officer
Catharine Layton
Public Relations
James Scherrer
Budget (2019)
$3.46 million
Staff (2019)
5
Websiteicandecide.org
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The Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) is one of the main anti-vaccination groups in the United States. Founded in 2016 by Del Bigtree, it spreads misinformation about the risks of vaccines and contributes to vaccine hesitancy,[1][2][3] which has been identified by the World Health Organization as one of the top ten global health threats of 2019.[4][5] Arguments against vaccination are contradicted by overwhelming scientific consensus about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.[6][7][8][9]

Funding and activities

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ICAN was founded in 2016 by television producer Del Bigtree, after the release of the movie Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, which he wrote and produced, with anti-vaccination activist Andrew Wakefield directing. The national attention Bigtree gained with the movie and its promotion tour allowed the newly-formed group to quickly assume a leading role among the anti-vaccination movement.[1][10][11] Scientists have countered many of ICAN's statements, arguments against vaccination being contradicted by overwhelming scientific consensus about the safety and efficacy of vaccines.[12][13][14][15]

ICAN was established with a $100,000 grant from the Selz Foundation. Its budget ballooned to $1.4 million in 2017, with one million coming from the Selz Foundation, making ICAN the most well-funded anti-vaccination group in the United States that year.[16] In 2019, the Selz had stopped their funding, but ICAN received $2.46 million funneled through the donor-directed charitable trust investment firm T. Rowe Price, out of total revenue of $3.46 million.[17][18] ICAN reported making $5.5 million in revenue in 2020, a 60% increase from the previous year.[18] The group received a significant part of its funding in the early days of the pandemic from the charitable foundations from investment firm that anonymize donations: $235,000 from Fidelity Investments' foundation (2021-22), $600,000 from The Vanguard Group's foundation (2020 to 2022), $400,000 from Schwab Charitable (2020 to 2022), $135,000 from the Morgan Stanley Global Impact Funding Trust (2020 and 2021). It also received $15,000 from Donors Trust (2021).[19] In 2022, ICAN received a total of $13.4 million in funding.[20]

In 2019, ICAN paid a salary of $232,000 to Del Bigtree as its CEO, $162,000 to its Executive Producer Jenn Sherry Parry, $138,000 to its Chief Administrative Officer Catharine Layton, and 111,000 to Patrick Layton as Creative Director.[1][21] An article in Rolling Stone states that Layton stumbled upon the anti-vaccine movement on social media after her two sons were diagnosed with autism.[3]: 1  By 2022, Bigtree's compensation had increased to $284,000.[20]

Despite spreading misinformation about vaccines, the group received a federal loan of $165,600 through the Paycheck Protection Program in 2020.[22][23] It also holds Facebook fundraisers, this contributing $23,000 to its bottom line in 2021.[18] Like other anti-vaccination groups, ICAN directs their Instagram followers to a fundraising tool.[24]

Much of the group's funding in spent on legal fees, with a total of $13.8 million being paid to law firm Siri & Glimstad.[25]

Given the impact they had during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, ethicist Arthur Caplan commented that funding ICAN and similar groups might have grave consequence in future epidemics.[20]

In 2019, Bigtree was a keynote speaker at several anti-vaccination events targeting the ultra-Orthodox Jewish in Brooklyn and in Rockland County.[1][26] He has been criticized by the Anti-Defamation League and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum for wearing a Star of David at an anti-vaccination event, attempting to compare the treatment of those opposed to vaccination with the persecution of the Jewish people.[27][28][29][30] Bigtree's anti-vaccine advocacy has been described by anti-vaccination movement critic physician David Gorski as "fear mongering based on misinformation".[31]

In 2020, Facebook and Youtube removed Del Bigtree's anti-vaccination show The Highwire from their social media platforms, as part of efforts to limit the spread of disinformation about COVID-19. ICAN sued them for that, alleging the audience of the videos have decreased by half since they had to relocate it on their own website, although it continued streaming on Twitter. ICAN lost the court case in early 2022.[18][17]

Experts observing the anti-vaccination movement believe ICAN is crafting its communications in order to appeal to the segment of the population that distrusts expertise and government. Bigtree regularly appears in events that cater to those ideologies, including an event in October, 2020, at Trump National Doral Miami, a Florida resort owned by Donald Trump, where several leading figures of the QAnon movement also spoke.[32]

Access to information lawsuits

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ICAN spends a large part of its budget on legal fees, paid to Siri & Glimstad. The law firm has made a specialty out of challenging vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic.[18]

In 2018, ICAN filed Freedom of information lawsuits to force the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to release administrative reports on childhood vaccine injury HHS is required to file with Congress. HHS replied that they could not find any such reports.[1]: 1 [33]: 1  While ICAN claimed the absence of these reports means that the federal government has neglected to properly study the effect of vaccines,[33]: 1  scientists and the fact-checking site PolitiFact pointed out a large number of in-depth studies were undertaken and their results shared with the public, even though HHS failed to file the required reports.[33]: 1 

Dorit Reiss, a Professor of Law at the University of California, explained, "ICAN uses FOIA requests as a query, asking questions that likely do not have government records." She added, "when the government, predictably, says they do not have such records (because many of CDC's statements on scientific matters are based, for example, on scientific literature rather than government records), ICAN misrepresents that as showing there is no evidence - where all the answer shows is that there is no specific record."[34]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Sun, Lena H. (June 19, 2019). "Meet the New York couple donating millions to the anti-vaccine movement". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on June 29, 2019. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  2. ^ Karlin, Sam (May 7, 2019). "Bill backed by vaccine critics shot down; opponent called bill 'confusing and unnecessary'". The Advocate. Archived from the original on June 29, 2019. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Dickson, EJ (March 28, 2019). "Will the Internet's War on Anti-Vaxxers Work?". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 29, 2019. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  4. ^ "Ten health issues WHO will tackle this year". Who.int. Archived from the original on January 16, 2019. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
  5. ^ PM, Aristos Georgiou (2019-01-15). "The anti-vax movement has been listed by WHO as one of its top 10 health threats for 2019". Retrieved 2019-01-16.
  6. ^ "Communicating science-based messages on vaccines". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 95 (10): 670–71. October 2017. doi:10.2471/BLT.17.021017. PMC 5689193. PMID 29147039.
  7. ^ "Why do some people oppose vaccination?". Vox. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  8. ^ Ceccarelli L. "Defending science: How the art of rhetoric can help". The Conversation. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  9. ^ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "Vaccines.gov". Vaccines.gov. Retrieved 2018-08-05.
  10. ^ Weeks, Carly (February 7, 2019). "Toronto health conference cancels appearance by anti-vaccine activist Del Bigtree". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on June 21, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  11. ^ Merlan, Maria (June 20, 2019). "Everything I Learned While Getting Kicked out of America's Biggest Anti-Vaccine Conference". Jezebel. Archived from the original on June 21, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  12. ^ "Communicating science-based messages on vaccines". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 95 (10): 670–71. October 2017. doi:10.2471/BLT.17.021017. PMC 5689193. PMID 29147039.
  13. ^ "Why do some people oppose vaccination?". Vox. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  14. ^ Ceccarelli L. "Defending science: How the art of rhetoric can help". The Conversation. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  15. ^ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "Vaccines.gov". Vaccines.gov. Retrieved 2018-08-05.
  16. ^ Zadrozny, Brandy; Nadi, Aliza (2019-09-24). "How anti-vaxxers target grieving moms and turn them into crusaders". NBC News. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  17. ^ a b "Pandemic Profiteers" (PDF). Center for Countering Digital Hate. Center for Countering Digital Hate. June 1, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  18. ^ a b c d e Zadrozny, Brandy (3 February 2022). "Once struggling, anti-vaccination groups have enjoyed a pandemic windfall". NBC News. Archived from the original on 4 February 2022. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  19. ^ Bragman, Walker; Kotch, Alex (19 October 2023). "America's Biggest Charities Bankrolled RFK Jr.'s Anti-Vax Outfit". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 19 October 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  20. ^ a b c Weber, Lauren (21 February 2024). "Tax records reveal the lucrative world of covid misinformation". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 23 February 2024. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  21. ^ "Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax". Pro Publica. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  22. ^ Dwoskin, Elizabeth; Gregg, Aaron (18 January 2021). "The Trump administration bailed out prominent anti-vaccine groups during a pandemic". The Washington Post. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  23. ^ "FederalPay.org PPP Loan Data — Informed Consent Action Network DBA Ican, Dripping Springs, TX". FederalPay.org. Archived from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  24. ^ Silva, Spencer; Carter, Cadmen (12 September 2022). "Anti-vaccine accounts on Instagram are using the link-in-bio loophole to monetize their content and sidestep moderation". Media Matters for America. Archived from the original on 17 September 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  25. ^ Zadrozny, Brandy (16 December 2023). "How a well-timed legal assault unraveled Mississippi's stellar record in vaccinating kids". NBC News. Archived from the original on 26 December 2023. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
  26. ^ Mole, Beth (June 6, 2019). "Measles cases hit 1,001 as anti-vaxxers hold another rally of disinformation". Ars technica. Archived from the original on June 21, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  27. ^ "Anti-vaccine activists are using a Holocaust-era yellow Star of David to promote their cause". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. April 5, 2019. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  28. ^ Mills Rodrigo, Chris (April 8, 2019). "ADL criticizes 'anti-vaxxers' for adopting Star of David badge". The Hill. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  29. ^ Dolsten, Josefin (April 6, 2019). "US anti-vaxxers use Holocaust-era yellow stars to promote their agenda". The Times of Israel. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  30. ^ Sun, Lena H. (April 1, 2019). "US measles cases surge to second-highest level in nearly two decades". Denton Record-Chronicle. Archived from the original on June 29, 2019. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
  31. ^ Gorski, David (May 6, 2019). "Deception by omission: Del Bigtree's ICAN calls the studies licensing MMR into question". Science-based Medicine. Archived from the original on June 21, 2019. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  32. ^ Porter, Tom (24 August 2021). "How a New York billionaire-funded anti-vax group is contributing to the vaccine hesitancy that's crippling the US recovery". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 23 February 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2022.
  33. ^ a b c O'Rourke, Ciara (April 10, 2019). "No, Health and Human Services didn't say it failed to monitor vaccine safety". Politifact. Archived from the original on June 29, 2019. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  34. ^ Sethi, Pallavi; Roy, Shreyashi; Smith, Alexander (May 31, 2023). "The predictable polemic of 'Plandemic'". Logically. Retrieved 2023-06-01.

See also

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