Anti-Vax Mom Brags About Spreading Chicken Pox To Kids Through Tainted Lollipops
Police are now investigating the mom, who said she was offering kids “lifelong immunity” from chicken pox
Police are investigating after a Facebook post reportedly written by an Australia mom went viral, saying she planned to hand out chicken pox-contaminated lollipops on Halloween. If your skin is crawling right now, you’re not alone.
A screenshot of the post was shared to the page Light for Riley, a memorial page for an infant boy who was tragically killed by whooping cough in 2015. It shows that the mom posted her plan to an infamous Facebook group called Stop Mandatory Vaccination, where anti-vax parents congregate and share their dangerous ideas.
“So my beautiful son [redacted] has the chicken pox at the moment and we’ve both decided to help others with natural immunity this Halloween!” the post read, alongside a photo of a bowl of lollipops. “We have the packaging open and closing down pat and can’t wait to help others in our community.”
Horrifyingly, in her Facebook profile, the woman claims to be a nurse at Queensland Hospital. Thankfully, people reported the post to police and they’re now investigating while Queensland Hospital has released a statement confirming the woman doesn’t work for them. “There are no current or former employees by that name that have worked for Queensland Health as a registered nurse,” the hospital posted on Facebook. “This is a serious issue and has been referred to police, who are investigating.”
What this woman claimed to be doing is a dangerous case of illegal food tampering, aside from the fact that gleefully bragging about exposing children to a potentially dangerous infectious disease is absolutely horrifying.
After the post went viral and people were rightly horrified by it, the mom doubled down in a second post.
“You say I’m vile and gross like I have done something that hundreds of thousands of parents haven’t already done,” she wrote. “How many times do you see children dropped off to day care or school when they’re clearly sick and contagious? Exactly!”
She added, “And I’m offering life long immunity for the price of a couple of blisters and a few days off school.”
It’s true that people typically become immune to the chicken pox after having the infection, but getting the illness puts them at risk for serious complications that can lead to death. When we have a vaccine for the disease, it’s ridiculous to think actually going through the illness is the better option, but don’t try telling that to an anti-vaxxer.
Luckily, if the post was real and not written by an internet troll, it’s unlikely the mom was able to spread chicken pox to any kids. Experts at Queensland Health told reporters that the virus can’t live on surfaces for very long. However, tampering with food in this way is a serious offense in Australia, and could lead to up to 15 years of jail time. Even claiming to be tampering with food without actually doing it could lead to up to 10 years in prison.
