Anti-vaccination movie Vaxxed is set to premiere in New Zealand next month, but there won’t be any widespread publicity announcing the screening of the controversial film.
NZME reports those wishing to see the documentary which links bowel disease, autism and the MMR vaccination will be notified by text or email of the movie’s location just hours before screening.
The move by those hosting the film in New Zealand comes in the wake of overseas protests that has seen the film blocked by some cinemas.
Vaccine-skeptic group WAVES – Warnings About Vaccine Expectations – is selling tickets to the movie, which will premiere at a secret Auckland location on April 2.
The group, formerly known as the Immunisation Awareness Society told the New Zealand Herald: “The reason for this is that other screenings of this film overseas have been cancelled due to venues being threatened with legal action.”
Watch: The video all anti-vaxxers should see. Article continues after video.
Last year the film Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrope made headlines when it was pulled from showing at the Tribeca Film Festival by the festival’s director Robert De Niro after fears of a backlash.
Despite the veteran actor’s open admission his son changed “overnight” when he received the MMR jab, which immunizes against Measles, Mumps and Rubella, he bowed to pressure to scrap the film’s screening after other filmmakers threatened to pull out of the prestigious festival.
De Niro, whose son Elliot, 18, suffers from autism, said at the time he hoped screening the film would start a conversation about the link between the vaccine and the disorder.
The film was directed by former British doctor Andrew Wakefield, who started the MMR vaccine controversy in 1998 after publishing an article in the British medical journal The Lancet.
Andrew Wakefield was struck off the medical register in 2010 after the study was found to be unethical. The Lancet retracted the journal article shortly after.
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