Learn The Risk

Learn The Risk is an American anti-vaccination advocacy organization established in 2015 by Brandy Vaughan. The group was created as an arm of the Council for Vaccine Safety, another organization founded by Vaughan, who served as executive director of both entities. Vaughan presented herself as a former employee of Merck and as an advocate for natural health. Learn The Risk became known for public campaigns questioning the safety of childhood vaccination and for promoting claims that vaccines cause large numbers of deaths among young children. Health professionals and public-health organizations have characterized the organization and its messaging as part of the anti-vaccination movement and have criticized its claims as unsupported by scientific evidence. The organization’s most visible activities have involved outdoor advertising. During the summer of 2018, Learn The Risk placed billboards in Perth, Australia. The campaign prompted opposition from health professionals and calls for the advertisements to be removed. In the autumn of the same year, the organization purchased advertising space on more than 30 billboards in West Virginia, New York, Missouri, and other American states. The advertisements used emotionally charged statements asserting that vaccines kill children and referred to particular cases without evidence establishing that vaccination had caused the deaths. The campaigns generated concern that parents might delay or reject routine immunization. Learn The Risk operated on a substantially smaller scale than larger vaccine-opposition organizations such as the Informed Consent Action Network and Children’s Health Defense. Tax filings cited in reference material indicated an annual budget below US$100,000, although the precise year and financial figure require verification from the underlying filing. The organization also received some support through Amazon’s charitable donation program, under which customers could direct a small share of qualifying purchases to participating organizations. Amazon removed anti-vaccine activists from that program in spring 2019, affecting Learn The Risk and similar groups. Vaughan remained the organization’s principal public figure until her death in December 2020. A video recorded approximately five and a half years earlier showed Vaughan saying that she feared for her life and was not suicidal. The coroner’s report described her cause of death as a blood clot. No replacement executive director had been identified in the cited material, so the organization’s current leadership and operating status are unclear. The World Health Organization’s identification of vaccine hesitancy as one of the major global health threats to monitor in 2019, together with statements from public-health authorities emphasizing the established benefits of immunization, provides the wider context in which Learn The Risk’s campaigns were contested.

Learn The Risk was founded in the United States in 2015 by Brandy Vaughan. It operated as a branch of the Council for Vaccine Safety, an organization also established by Vaughan. Vaughan led both groups as executive director and framed her work around vaccine skepticism, natural-health advocacy, and criticism of pharmaceutical companies. Reference material identifies her as a former Merck employee, a biographical point used in the organization’s public positioning. The organization became associated with the wider anti-vaccination movement. Its communications challenged the safety of routine childhood immunization and used claims that vaccines were responsible for substantial numbers of deaths among young children. Public-health authorities and medical professionals disputed these claims, emphasizing that although vaccines can produce uncommon serious adverse reactions, the protective benefits of vaccination against infectious disease substantially outweigh the known risks. The World Health Organization’s designation of vaccine hesitancy as one of ten global health threats to watch in 2019 placed organizations such as Learn The Risk within a broader international debate over medical misinformation and immunization policy. Learn The Risk’s most prominent public-facing work consisted of billboard advertising. In summer 2018, it ran a campaign in Perth, Australia. Health professionals objected to the advertisements and called for their removal. Later that year, in autumn 2018, the group bought space on more than 30 billboards in several U.S. states, including West Virginia, New York, and Missouri. The messages asserted that vaccines kill children and presented individual cases in a manner that critics said implied causation without supporting evidence. The campaigns led to concern that parents could be encouraged to delay or refuse vaccination. The organization appears to have remained small in comparison with better-funded vaccine-opposition groups. Tax filings referenced in the available material placed its annual budget below US$100,000, but the relevant filing year and exact figure are not specified here. Learn The Risk also benefited to some extent from Amazon’s charitable-shopping program, through which customers could assign a small portion of eligible purchases to selected organizations. In spring 2019, Amazon moved to exclude anti-vaccine activists from that program, reducing one source of support for Learn The Risk and related groups. Vaughan continued as the group’s central leader until her death in December 2020. A video made roughly five and a half years before her death showed her saying that she feared for her life and was not suicidal. The cited coroner report stated that she died from a blood clot. The available reference does not identify a successor executive director, and it does not establish the organization’s present operating structure, leadership, or activity level. Accordingly, Learn The Risk’s current status is uncertain even though its website remains identified in the supplied record.

• 2020

  Death of founder Brandy Vaughan

  [1]Learn The Risken.wikipedia.org

  Brandy Vaughan died in December 2020. The cited coroner report attributed the death to a blood clot.

• 2019

  Loss of Amazon charitable-program access

  [1]Learn The Risken.wikipedia.org

  Amazon moved to exclude anti-vaccine activists from its charitable donation program, affecting Learn The Risk and similar groups.

• 2018

  Perth billboard campaign

  [1]Learn The Risken.wikipedia.org

  Learn The Risk ran an anti-vaccination billboard campaign in Perth, Australia, drawing objections from health professionals and calls for removal.

• 2018

  United States billboard expansion

  [1]Learn The Risken.wikipedia.org

  The organization bought advertising space on more than 30 billboards across West Virginia, New York, Missouri, and other states.

• 2015

  Organization founded

  [1]Learn The Risken.wikipedia.org

  Brandy Vaughan founded Learn The Risk as a branch of the Council for Vaccine Safety and became its executive director.

An anti-vaccination and natural-health advocacy organization that uses emotionally prominent public advertising and educational content to challenge mainstream vaccine policy and encourage skepticism about childhood immunization.

• Public advocacy · 2018

  Billboard campaigns

  Learn The Risk’s best-known public activity has been the purchase of outdoor advertising space for anti-vaccination messages. The campaigns used large, emotionally charged statements about alleged vaccine deaths and were conducted in Australia and multiple U.S. states. Health professionals criticized the messaging as unsupported and potentially harmful to vaccination uptake.

• Digital content

  Online advocacy materials

  The organization has used its website and related communications to distribute material questioning vaccine safety and promoting its natural-health and anti-vaccination perspective. The available sources do not provide a complete catalog of the organization’s digital publications or establish which materials remain active.

• 2018Perth billboard campaign

  Australia

  Learn The Risk placed anti-vaccination billboards in Perth during summer 2018. The campaign attracted resistance from health professionals, who called for the advertisements to be removed.

  Outcome. The campaign generated public-health criticism and removal requests; the available source does not establish whether all advertisements were removed.

  Source
• 2018United States billboard campaign

  United States

  In autumn 2018, Learn The Risk purchased more than 30 billboard placements in West Virginia, New York, Missouri, and other states. The advertisements asserted that vaccines kill children and referred to specific cases without evidence demonstrating causation.

  Outcome. The campaign prompted concern among health professionals that its claims could lead parents to delay or reject childhood vaccination.

  Source

• 2018

  Move into large-scale billboard advertisingOther

  Background

  The organization sought a more visible public platform for its vaccine-safety claims.

  Action taken

  It purchased billboard space in Australia and later across multiple U.S. states.

  Aftermath

  The advertising attracted criticism from health professionals and concern about possible effects on vaccination decisions.

  Source

1. 1Learn The Risken.wikipedia.org
2. 2Learn The Risk official websitelearntherisk.org