HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Anti-vaccine billboards claiming that routine childhood shots are deadly have popped up in several West Virginia cities. More than 30 similar billboards have cropped up in Pennsylvania, New York and other states.

They warn that the son of former Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Nick Catone died from a vaccine, though the infant’s death was officially ruled to be sudden infant death syndrome.

A physician director for the Cabell-Huntington Health Department, Dr. Michael Kilkenny, says the case is tragic but the medical community’s consensus that vaccines are safe and effective remains unchanged. The Herald-Dispatch reported Sunday the messages have appeared this month in Parkersburg, Dunbar and Huntington as part of a campaign by the Learn The Risk group.