Facebook user and cosplayer Autumn Dayss has stirred up a bit of Halloween controversy with her last-minute costume, an anti-Vaxx mother.
An image she posted to the social network shows a smiling Dayss wearing a baby carrier featuring a small skeleton. "Going to a costume party tonight as Karen and her non-vaccinated child," the caption over the image reads.
Dayss probably named her costume character Karen because it's a name people use jokingly to refer to entitled mothers who want to "speak to your manager" or argue that vaccines are dangerous on Facebook.
RELATED: A new study of over 650,000 children finds — once again — that vaccines don't cause autism
Dayss costume may be a little too dark for some people, but isn't that what Halloween is all about? Plus, it makes a damning point about parents who decide not to vaccinate their children.
A 2015 Pew Research study found that 83% of Americans think the measles vaccine is safe, while 9% think it's not. Another 7% are not sure. But when you look at the polls that include parents of minors, the numbers get worse; 13% believe that the measles vaccine is unsafe.
However, a recent study of over 650,000 children published earlier this year found there was zero evidence that vaccinations cause autism.
The willful ignorance of the anti-Vaxxers can have devastating consequences.
In 2019, the U.S. had the highest number of measles cases since 1992. According to the CDC, 86% of the cases occurred in "underimmunized" communities.
RELATED: Anti-science mother argues her kids are better off homeschooled than getting immunized
These children pose a major health risk to young babies that are too young to be vaccinated. Unvaccinated children who contract measles are also a financial burden on the U.S. healthcare system.
The post inspired a lot of angry and ill-informed comments from anti-Vaxxers. It also led a response post that truly exemplifies the science denial at the heart of the movement.
This woman dressed up as the measles, a disease she has probably forced herself into believing is safe to rationalize her anti-Vaxxer beliefs.
When, in actuality, according to the World Health Organization, in 2017, over 110,000 people died of measles, mostly children under the age of five.
Volunteers who drive homeless people to shelters talk with a person from Ukraine in Berlin on Jan. 7, 2026.
Tasks that stretch your brain just beyond its comfort zone, such as knitting and crocheting, can improve cognitive abilities over your lifespan – and doing them in a group setting brings an additional bonus for overall health.
Overdoing any task, whether it be weight training or sitting at the computer for too long, can overtax the muscles as well as the brain.
Amoxicillin is a commonly prescribed broad-spectrum antibiotic. 
Chart: The Conversation, CC-BY-ND
Counterintuitively, social media can make you feel more bored and lonely.
Talking about what you’ve read can add a social dimension to what can be a solitary activity. 
Women and people of color who experience cardiac arrest are less likely to receive CPR.
Mushrooms containing psilocybin.Photo credit: 
Woman undergoing cancer treatments looks out the window.Photo credit: 
Friend and patient on a walk.Photo credit: