When you purchase through links on our site , we may earn an affiliate delegation . Here ’s how it works .

The " Brobdingnagian majority " of people commenting , share and like anti - vaccination information on Facebook are women , a new subject finds .

Researchers dug into the world of anti - vaccination hoi polloi — better known as anti - vaxxers — by seem at data from six of the big , public anti - vaxxer pages on Facebook . By analyse two year ' Charles Frederick Worth of data from these varlet , the research worker determined that these community are extremely active , negative in tone and principally female .

Woman at computer

" Social medium plays an important role in have anti - vaccination beliefs durable and persistent , " field of study lead investigator Naomi Smith , a lector in sociology at Federation University Australia , told Live Science . " Sharing Post is an important way to spread this case of information , so be heedful before you apportion any post that claim vaccines make people sick . " [ 5 life-threatening Vaccination Myths ]

Vaccination works

Over the past two decennium , childhood vaccines have saved the lived of 732,000 U.S. children and prevented more than 300 million kids from getting unhinged , a 2014 study from the Centers for Disease Control and prevention ( CDC ) found , Live Science antecedently report .

Yet despite these impressive statistic , vaccinum have face opposition from the time they were invented in the tardy 1700s . This resistance uphold today , include from people who surmise the measles , mumps and rubella ( MMR ) vaccinum causes autism ( it does n’t ) or that the aluminum salts supply to some vaccines are unsafe ( these salts enhance the body ’s resistant response , and study show they ’re safe , agree to the CDC ) . Other people delay vaccinations because they erroneously believe that the recommended vaccination agenda can overwhelm a child ’s immune system , Live Science antecedently account .

Digging deeper

Despite the dearth of grounds supporting anti - vaxxer beliefs , " it ’s authoritative to not make playfulness of anti - vaccination attitude , " she say . " This will likely reward any sensory faculty of persecution they feel . "

The study was published online Dec. 27 in thejournal Information , Communication and Society .

Original article onLive skill .

a close-up of a child�s stomach with a measles rash

Close up of a medical professional holding a syringe drawing vaccine from a vial to prepare for injection.

an infant receives a vaccine

A close-up of a doctor loading a syringe with a dose of a vaccine

A stock illustration of particles of HPV (in pink) amongst cells (in green)

an MRI scan of a brain

Pile of whole cucumbers

Pseudomonas aeruginosa as seen underneath a microscope.

a photo of Joe Biden during a speech

an illustration of Epstein-Barr virus

three prepackaged sandwiches

An image comparing the relative sizes of our solar system�s known dwarf planets, including the newly discovered 2017 OF201

a view of a tomb with scaffolding on it

an illustration showing a large disk of material around a star

A small phallic stalagmite is encircled by a 500-year-old bracelet carved from shell with Maya-like imagery

a person holds a GLP-1 injector

A man with light skin and dark hair and beard leans back in a wooden boat, rowing with oars into the sea

an abstract illustration depicting the collision of subatomic particles