There was a time not so long ago (perhaps a decade, but certainly no longer than 20 years ago), when there was a widely held stereotype that antivaxxers were generally hippy-dippy, granola-crunching lefties. Indeed, given the association between conservatives and right wing populists and antivaccine activism today, it’s definitely a stereotype that has persisted long past any resemblance to reality.
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Indeed, there has always been a libertarian and right wing component to the antivaccine movement, with a very strong strain of antivaccine views on the right as well. Examples included General Bert Stubblebine III’s Natural Solutions Foundation, far right libertarians, and others who distrust the government, including government-recommended vaccine schedules.
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Why do Republican governors (and, in fact, Republicans at all levels of government) feel the need to attack President Biden for his decision [to impose federal employee vaccination mandates], regardless of their state’s own vaccination policies? The reason is simple. The COVID-19 pandemic has completed the turn of the Republican Party to the dark side, which began at least a decade ago. The Republican Party is now fully the antivaccine party, and it doesn’t even really pretend any more.
