science

As someone who has known a few anti-vax right-wingers, yes. 100% yes.

It's almost entirely a fear of being poked with a needle, but they have to do very complicated dances to justify that fear, because they know if they admitted it, even to themselves, that such a immature fear would seem childish and weak, which is even more terrifying than the needle.

Humans never stop being children. We just develop more layers of complexity around that child, but the child still drives us.