Edward Jenner

Canadian Paul McFedries tracks new words as they enter the language on his Word Spy website. In mid-December, he noted “anti-vaxxer,” which of course is a person who refuses to have his or her children immunized, fearing that vaccines are harmful.

According to McFedries, the earliest use of “anti-vaxxer” was in 2004 in a comment on mothering.com.

I’ve used variations of it when taking notes, but am reluctant to adopt it, even in headlines (except this one).

Do you think “anti-vaxxer” and its variants will achieve widespread adoption?