An anti-vaccine organization that helped amplify an Idaho mother's claims that routine childhood vaccinations caused the deaths of her 18-month-old twins has continued to support her following her indictment on two counts of first-degree murder.
The mother, Andrea Shaw, 23, became a prominent figure in anti-vaccine circles after publicly blaming the twins' deaths on vaccinations and now faces charges in the 2025 deaths of her twins, Dallas Shaw and Tyson Shaw.
The indictment, filed June 29, alleges Shaw "did willfully, unlawfully, deliberately, with premeditation and with malice aforethought and/or in the perpetration of an aggravated battery on a child under the age of 12 years old, did kill and murder...a human child approximately 18 months old, by the act of suffocating" in the deaths of both her son and daughter.
She is being held on a $2,000,000 bond and is ordered to stay away from children under the age of 18, court records reviewed by Newsweek show. Joe Filicetti, Shaw's attorney, said that she “denies anything and everything” and that the state “cannot prove” the criminal charges.
In a statement emailed to Newsweek Wednesday, Mary Holland, Esq., president and CEO of Children’s Health Defense, said, “Andrea Shaw tried to warn her doctor about a family history of adverse reactions to the flu vaccine, but she was dismissed and assured that the shots her toddlers were to receive were perfectly safe for her twins, Tyson and Dallas Shaw. Now she potentially faces life in prison.”
"It is important to note that eight days before their deaths, they each received the AAP-recommended vaccines concurrently, including DTaP, oral polio, hepatitis A, and influenza type B," she continued, adding, "Two days after vaccination, Ms. Shaw found her twins with blue lips and listless."
Newsweek reached out to the Payette County Prosecutor and the Boise Police Department via email on Tuesday for comment.
Who Is Andrea Shaw?
Following her kids' deaths, Shaw and her husband publicly alleged that routine childhood vaccinations were to blame. The couple's claims were amplified through anti-vaccine media outlets and advocacy groups.
Shaw was arrested on June 30, just days after giving birth to another child who was born three weeks premature, her attorney told Boise news station KTVB. According to the report, her husband is caring for the newborn during her incarceration.
On Tuesday, a motion filed to seal the information in her case on grounds of medical privacy was denied, according to court records reviewed by Newsweek. She is scheduled to appear in court for a bond reduction request hearing at 1:30 p.m. local time on July 14, records show.
What Is Children's Health Defense?
The twins died several days after receiving routine vaccinations during a pediatric visit. Shaw subsequently appeared on a podcast produced by Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy before he became Health and Human Services secretary, where she suggested the vaccines were linked to their deaths.
Newsweek reached out to Kennedy, who resigned as chairman of the group in December 2024 to join the Trump administration, via the HHS website for comment.
Holland told Newsweek in an email, "All parents deserve to be heard when they raise vaccine safety concerns, and they should be free to make individualized, informed choices for their children. Unfortunately, infant deaths from vaccination are well documented, and they happen far more often than most doctors and health officials admit.
"The timeline of events and the hospital’s initial diagnosis of a postvaccination reaction are not being included in much of the coverage. She took them to the hospital, where they were diagnosed with a postvaccination reaction. They were treated for dehydration but remained listless. Instead of admitting the twins for observation, the hospital sent them home.”
What Happened to the Twins?
Payette Police responded to a home in Idaho on May 1, 2025, after receiving a report of a deceased child. Officers discovered both 18-month-old twins dead in a shared bed. At the time, investigators described the circumstances as highly unusual.
Authorities initially disclosed little information about how the children died and did not publicly release autopsy findings. The investigation remained active for more than a year as detectives examined the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
Murder Charges Filed
On June 30, the Payette Police Department announced that Shaw had been arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder. A grand jury indictment alleges that she killed the twins by suffocation, according to court documents.
She was arrested in Boise and later extradited to Payette County, where she appeared in court to face the charges. Authorities have not publicly released additional details about the evidence presented to the grand jury.
Vaccines at the Center of the Case
The case has become a flashpoint in ongoing debates about vaccine safety because of Shaw's public claims.
In interviews following the twins' deaths, Shaw said the children became ill after receiving vaccinations. She said on one podcast that they received their shots simultaneously from separate nurses.
Medical experts note that the vaccines referenced by Shaw, including hepatitis A, influenza and DTaP vaccines, are widely recommended for children and have been found to be safe and effective through extensive scientific research. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there is no established scientific evidence linking routine childhood vaccinations to the type of deaths alleged by the family.
Shaw has also become involved in vaccine-related litigation. She is listed as a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit filed in January by Children's Health Defense and other parties against the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The suit alleges the AAP misled families about the safety of the childhood vaccination schedule and accuses the organization of racketeering.
Court filings describe Shaw as a mother "whose children died following routine vaccinations administered according to AAP guidelines," reflecting the family's longstanding claim that vaccines played a role in the deaths.
Idaho at the Center of Vaccine Debate
The charges against Shaw come as Idaho remains a focal point in the broader debate over childhood vaccinations in the United States.
Public health officials have warned that vaccination rates have steadily declined in recent years, while vaccine exemptions have reached record highs nationwide.
Critics of routine immunization schedules—including the Children's Health Defense—have argued that parents should have greater flexibility in deciding whether to vaccinate their children, while medical groups maintain that vaccines are among the safest and most effective public health interventions available.
According to the CDC, national kindergarten vaccination rates fell during the 2024-25 school year, with coverage for the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine dropping to 92.5 percent, below the 95 percent threshold public health experts say is needed to prevent sustained outbreaks. At the same time, exemptions from one or more required vaccines rose to a record 3.6 percent nationwide.
Idaho's numbers are significantly lower than the national average. CDC data cited by public health researchers show Idaho had the lowest kindergarten MMR vaccination rate in the country during the 2024-25 school year, at roughly 78.5 percent.
The state also reported one of the highest rates of non-medical vaccine exemptions, with about 15 percent of kindergartners exempted from at least one required vaccine. Idaho law allows both religious and personal exemptions for school vaccination requirements.
Health experts have expressed concern that declining vaccination rates could leave communities more vulnerable to outbreaks of diseases such as measles and whooping cough.
The trend has coincided with growing vaccine