Jessica Biel insists she supports vaccinations after meeting with anti-vaxx activist

Jessica Biel has refuted claims she is an advocate of the controversial anti-vaxx movement, writing in an Instagram post on Thursday that she supports children getting vaccinations.

On Wednesday, the Sinner star was pictured at the California State Assembly alongside Robert F Kennedy Jr in a series of Instagram posts uploaded by the environmental activist.

In the caption, Kennedy described Biel as “courageous” and later told The Daily Beast that the duo had been lobbying against a California state bill that would limit exemptions from vaccinations.

Biel has now revealed that she supports families who choose to vaccinate their children, clarifying that her concern with the proposed bill is “solely regarding medical exemptions”.

“My dearest friends have a child with a medical condition that warrants an exemption from vaccinations, and should this bill pass, it would greatly affect their family’s ability to care for their child in this state,” the actor wrote.

“That’s why I spoke to legislators and argued against this bill. Not because I don’t believe in vaccinations, but because I believe in giving doctors and the families they treat the ability to decide what’s best for their patients and the ability to provide that treatment.”

Biel concluded by urging her followers to read more about the issue and “learn about the intricacies” of the proposed legislation.

While Kennedy declined to label Biel as “anti-vaxx” – calling the term “pharmaceutical propaganda” and “a lie” – he told the publication: “I would say that she was for safe vaccines and for medical freedom.”

Kennedy added: “She was a very effective advocate,” describing the actor as “very strong and very knowledgeable”.

Simon Stevens, chief executive of the NHS, recently described vaccine refusal as a “growing public health time bomb” in light of a report by Unicef that found 520,000 British children had not been vaccinated against measles between 2010 and 2017.

Stevens continued: “With measles cases almost quadrupling in England in just one year, it is grossly irresponsible for anybody to spread scare stories about vaccines, and social media firms should have a zero tolerance approach towards this dangerous content.”

Stevens’ comments were echoed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) earlier this year, who named “vaccine hesitancy” in its top 10 list of the worst health threats facing humanity in 2019.

“The reasons why people choose not to vaccinate are complex,” the WHO states, citing “complacency, inconvenience in accessing vaccines, and lack of confidence”.

But the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate, it adds, “threatens to reverse progress made in tackling vaccine-preventable diseases”.