Tel Aviv to host event for anti-vaccination activists

The Tel Aviv municipality is hosting an event for anti-vaccination activists next month, a Thursday report said.

The November 21 event, titled “It is critical for me to know more” and billed as “the first international conference on vaccination and informed consent,” is being organized by Israel’s largest anti-vaxxer network and will be held at the Expo Tel Aviv exhibition center, Channel 12 reported.

The municipality’s logo appears on the official invitation.

The World Health Organization recently classified anti-vaccination activism as one of the top ten dangers to global health.

Three Israelis have died of measles complications during a major recent outbreak of the disease, due to immunization rates being too low to grant the public herd immunity.

“Distributing the anti-vaxxer nonsense doesn’t just cause misdirection of the public — it puts it in serious danger,” Edva Lotan of the public health nonprofit Midaat told Channel 12.

“The sources they use are based on lies and distortions of reality, which could cause people to avoid giving themselves and their children necessary protection,” she added. “Credible information about vaccinations can be obtained from professional healthcare officials.”

The Tel Aviv municipality responded by saying its Expo venue “hosts hundreds of conferences every year, which are the sole responsibility of the organizers. The Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality and Expo do not interfere with any conference hosted at the venue, even if they object to its content, as long as they are held in accordance with the law.”

It added that it was demanding tens of thousands of shekels from the anti-vaxxers in exchange for hosting the event.