In that same way, Del’s parents eschewed vaccines all throughout his childhood. Del does not have a single vaccination. Nor has he vaccinated his children.
But vaccination (or anti-vaccination) was never something Del Bigtree took a broader stand on until he was forced to do so.
After a knockabout early career as an independent filmmaker, with a short film and a few unproduced scripts under his belt, Del landed a job as a segment producer with the syndicated daytime TV talk show “Dr. Phil” and later with its popular spinoff, The Doctors.
Del was so good at his job that, The Doctors created a special segment called “What Would Del Do?” to comically highlight how essential and quick on his feet he was.
But it became a much less amusing “What Would Del Do?” moment when Del was tipped to the biggest story of his career: CDC senior research scientist, William Thompson caught on tape, claiming the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccine team discovered a possible association between vaccines and autism—but then changed the parameters of the study to get rid of the association, so they would not have to report it to the public. It was a scandal!
In the audio interview, Thompson expressed great shame and remorse for “lying” and for going along with what the “higher-ups wanted.”
It was a blockbuster story. One upon which the world changes and careers are made. But the bosses of The Doctors wouldn’t report it.
“Daytime television runs on Big Pharma advertising,” Del explained. “I quickly discovered there was no way the advertisers on The Doctors were ever going to let William Thompson’s story run.”
So at that point, Del Bigtree had to make a decision: Either let the story go or leave his job and tell the story himself.
The rest is history.
Del left The Doctors and went on to produce the controversial blockbuster documentary Vaxxed: From Coverup to Catastrophe, which became the biggest news story in America when New York’s 2016 Tribeca Film Festival censored its appearance after an orchestrated outcry.
After taking the documentary on the road around the country, Del discovered there were a lot more parents who thought their children’s autism (and other endemic health problems) was the result of vaccines.
Parents, doctors, and scientists implored him to keep digging, stating that he was on the trail of the biggest medical scandal of all time. His nose for news suggested they were right.
Del decided to enter the arena against some very powerful and deep pocketed opponents. In 2017, with the help of a few devoted donors, he launched the non-profit Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) and the weekly health and science news program “The HighWire With Del Bigtree.”
He also began a legal strategy of suing government organizations for better transparency about vaccine research, trials, testing, and safety. Because of the 1986 Vaccine Safety Act, the government changed laws so pharmaceutical companies were exempt from legal liability for any damage their products caused.
Since forming his legal team, led by Aaron Siri, Del’s Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) has discovered several important but alarming things about the government’s lax oversight about vaccine studies and testing.
Most recently, just prior to Christmas 2021, an ICAN-funded lawsuit struck down San Diego’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate to attend school, the first COVID-19 vaccine requirement in the country struck down in a final ruling.
Other key legal discoveries have discovered a lack of follow up from government agencies to improve vaccine safety;