Seeing a baby hooked up to oxygen and feeding tubes is totally and completely gut-wrenching for any parent. And as I sat today and watched a news clip about a 4-month-old baby named Everlee who almost died after a bout with whooping cough, I couldn't help but feel my stomach sink a bit. Whooping cough is an "old disease" that we are suddenly hearing about again because more and more parents are refusing to vaccinate their kids. And that's just scary.
Poor little Everlee was just a few weeks shy of receiving her shot against the disease. But a child who was likely un-vaccinated at her 9-year-old sister's school happened to contract whooping cough before that, and the sister likely brought it home on her clothing because of how contagious the disease is, which is how doctors think Everlee probably caught it. And then she wound up in the intensive care unit fighting for her life.
Granted, I realize that there are extremely strong opinions and arguments for why babies shouldn't be immunized, and I'm not trying to discount those or be even remotely insensitive. However, when the health and well being of small children come into play, I just don't see how anyone could not want to protect them from a disease that really shouldn't be floating around anymore at all.
Back in November, someone in my extended family had their 9-year-old son come down with whooping cough, and the whole house wound up getting quarantined. There were several other kids at his school who got it as well -- so it was almost a mini-epidemic. I remember being scared for my son's safety in his own school and I sighed with relief at the fact that he's been vaccinated against whooping cough. Hopefully we won't have to worry about it going forward should it wind up in our town. But young babies who haven't yet had their shot are constantly at risk.
The decision of whether or not to vaccinate is a personal choice, and it's a very passionate debate that isn't going to disappear anytime soon. Unfortunately, however, neither are these kinds of diseases if people keep fighting the vaccines.
Do you think that the risks are higher with diseases like whooping cough, or with the vaccines?
Image via Zaldlmg/Flickr
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Comments 52
http://youtu.be/lhk7-5eBCrs
The anti-vax people piss me off. Babies and immuno-compromised people should be able to count on herd immunity and now they can't, because of people that not only don't think about their own children's health, but society's too. We should not be having whooping cough and measles outbreaks when there are vaccines against it.
Stories like this are so sad. I vaccinated and would do it all over again. I think the risks are less with the vaccinations.
agree with pp's, this is getting ridiculous...
ppl who dont vax put the lives of other children and adults who are unable to vax at a huge huge risk!
I teach ESOL English, and a lot of my students come from a country where diseases like whooping cough and measles often cause a lot of problems. I am also a foster mom and have children and babies of all ages in and out of my house often.
Becuase of these two factors, I will not allow unvaccinated kids in my classroom. God forbid I take something home that makes a baby in the foster care system ill.
Schools have in my county have it right: no shots, no school, no kidding.
Yeah yeah yeah, blah blah blah. Anti-vax people are killing your precious babes.
Actually, scientists are wondering if it's because the bacteria has mutated, becoming more virulent and that's why we're hearing about it more. That could be why many of the kids who came down with it during the recent epidemic were kids who were fully vaccinated against it (and the fact that vaccinations aren't 100% effective could be a reason for some of those cases).
I'm not anti-vax but I do pick and choose which ones we do and we delay certain ones. I do actually vax for whooping cough but saying everyone needs to vax because someone died or nearly died is ridiculous.
People die from the flu but I don't do flu shots.
To parents who don't want to vaccinate their children, PLEASE READ THIS:
http://www.thewmparentingconnection.com/2011/01/study-linking-autism-to-vaccines-proven.html
So of course the title is shortened in the link, but it says its proven FALSE. And we're not talking about a case that initially showed a strong correlation and then further research proved it was actually coincidental. No no, this man flat out MADE SH*T UP!
I think there is also the problems with adults and vax's does everyone know that as an adult you should also keep up with your vax's? They aren't only for when you are a child and if parents aren't getting vax'd and keeping up with it, it causes them to be at risk and bring it home to their children as well. I dont think its just children who aren't getting the vaccinations that they should have, its also that adults don't keep up with them. The problem is that children and adults alike are getting sick and contracting things that can be prevented with vaccinations when in this day and age it is preventable.
foreverabuff - Most people who don't vaccinate aren't anti-vax because they think it causes autism.