Billboard peddling unsubstantiated claims about vaccines pops up in Rochester

A message in rotation on a digital billboard, on the northern doorstep of downtown Rochester and steps away from Mayo Clinic, is currently promoting unsubstantiated anti-vaccination fears — as the world awaits the most important inoculation in at least 70 years. 

The billboard, on the corner of Civic Center Drive and North Broadway, appears roughly once per minute. It showcases Christopher Bunch and Evee Clobes, two children purportedly killed by vaccines, with the tagline ‘Death By Vaccines Has No Age Limit.’ 

The billboard is owned by Reagan Outdoor Advertising, which entered the Rochester market in 2019 after buying out Fairway Outdoor Advertising’s advertising network. Troy McEldowney, general manager at Reagan’s Rochester operation, said the billboard was paid for by the team behind justiceforevee.com, pushing anti-vax rhetoric in the name of Evee Clobes.

McEldowney added his team “tries to use common sense” before authorizing the content of a billboard, but stressed that Reagan is a “neutral media platform” that does not deny most paid advertisements — so long as they are not “attack ads.” 

The extent of Reagan’s vetting process, however, was left unclear from our interview with McEldowney, as evidenced by the partial transcript below.

MCB: If a billboard contains false or misleading information, is that something you guys vet beforehand?

TM: Uh, no. I mean… that’s not something, we’re not… you know, I can’t say that. I couldn’t answer that — I won’t answer that, I should say.

Debunking the Stories

According to one of the two websites listed on the billboard, 15-year-old Christopher Bunch died of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) six weeks after receiving Gardasil, a vaccine that protects against HPV.

However, while potential associations (estimated at no more than 1.16 excess cases per million vaccines administered) have been found between another vaccine for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (Tdap) and ADEM, studies have revealed no evidence linking the disease to Gardasil.

Further, the CDC lists the HPV vaccination as both ‘very safe’ and also effective — with over 120 million doses of the HPV vaccine having been distributed since the vaccine was licensed.

According to Dorit Rubenstein Reiss, an expert in the social and legal policies of vaccination who followed the Bunch case closely, the onset of ADEM in Bunch was more likely caused by a viral infection he picked up after receiving the Gardasil shot. “Infections are much more commonly associated with ADEM than vaccines,” wrote Reiss, “and there actually is reasonable evidence for a link between infections and ADEM, evidence that is just not there for a link to HPV vaccines.”

Meanwhile, the story of Evee Clobes, a six-month-old from Buffalo, Minnesota, has already garnered national attention, landing on NBC News’ website. Thirty-six hours after getting a checkup and receiving routine six-month-old vaccinations, Evee died while sleeping in her mother’s bed. 

While Catie Clobes, Evee’s mother and main voice behind justiceforevee.com, says her child’s routine vaccinations were the culprit, the medical examiner’s report lists two causes of death: positional asphyxia and co-sleeping on an adult bed. 

Both cases, however, have been picked up by various peddlers of anti-vax rhetoric, pushing the narrative of the two children’s deaths far beyond the truth. The story of Evee Clobes has become one of dozens of anti-vax tales pushed by Larry Cook, a ‘leading voice’ in the anti-vaxxer community who has made thousands of dollars off of fundraising campaigns — including at least $5,000 for ‘secret projects’ he refuses to name. 

In the case of Christopher Bunch, his story has been linked to Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vax group helmed by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Kennedy has been known to alter quotes from top scientists to make them fit his desired narrative. The CHD website has also published articles railing against the construction of 5G cellular towers, calling them a “health crisis” when no such reliable information exists to prove the claim.

Broader Implications

The anti-vaccine movement has grown throughout the previous decade, leading to outbreaks of preventable diseases like measles in vulnerable cities across the country. Now, however, the stakes of accepting a vaccination are higher than ever before — and some anti-vaxxers are already moving to sow doubt about the viability of an eventual Covid-19 vaccine. 

The aforementioned Children’s Health Defense — with RFK Jr. at the helm — published an article Tuesday morning, saying they would “take action on safety concerns’ related to one Covid-19 vaccine in development from biotech firm Moderna. Previous articles on the site slam Dr. Anthony Fauci for being in favor of “risky and uncertain” Covid-19 vaccinations.

The billboard in question, though, sits in the shadow of one of the best hospitals in the world. Dr. Gregory Poland is the director of the Mayo Clinic Vaccine Research Group — and before the pandemic struck, he went on the record to speak against the type of misinformation now being displayed blocks from his place of work.

"There have always been people against vaccines or hesitant about vaccines,” said Dr. Poland. “I believe that most people are just concerned about their health and they want to do the right thing. They’re misinformed."

Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.