I have been thinking about this for quite some time... unsure of whether or not to step out of the shadows and risk being burned on the cross for saying how I truly feel... But I am done being silent. I am done sitting quietly for fear of prosecution... I have had enough.
Who am I? I am a mother. I became a mother just under 3 years ago when I first learned that I was expecting my first baby. A beautiful little girl. I was ecstatic, filled with joy, love and happiness. The entire process of becoming a mother was one of life’s greatest gifts for me and I will treasure those moments all the days of my life....
Fast forward 2 years to the day I discovered my perfect beautiful baby girl had tumours growing in both of her beautiful green/brown eyes. Tumours so large it was unlikely she could even make out my face anymore. There is no greater pain for a mother than hearing the words “Your daughter has cancer, our priority now is not vision, not quality of life, but saving her life itself.”
Fast forward again... another 11 months, to today. I am once again growing our beautiful family, this time by two! Yet I am not filled with all the blissful joy of my first pregnancy. No. Today I sit in tears after opening up Facebook to find that yet again my feed is littered with posts about this all too trendy “anti-vax” movement. As I read a story about a mother, just a city away who took her infant son in for his 14 day check up and was exposed to measles. A highly contagious, life threatening disease, which has only recently become an issue in our society due to a rapid increase in the population of unvaccinated individuals. I find myself crying for her as she describes the 21 days she will just have to ‘watch and wait’... helplessly to see if her son will be one of the lucky or not so lucky ones. She took her son to a safe place, for a simple check up, and because measles is airborne and can live in the air for up to 2 hours, she was exposed. Her son is far too young to have been vaccinated and therefore he is left unprotected, vulnerable, at risk. I cannot help but feel an overwhelming sense of sadness, knowing that all too soon, I could be this mother. I am already this mother.
My two brand new babies will leave the safety, security and warmth of my body and enter into a world of unknowns. There are some things in life that no one can predict; cancer is one of them - Measles is not! Each and every single time I leave my home I will be fearful that I may come into contact with someone who is carrying measles and has not yet shown symptoms. I will walk into my doctors office, the grocery store, the bank, or the mall knowing full well that doing so is putting my babies lives at risk. All because of what? Because you are afraid of the 1/100,000 odds of a serious adverse reaction? All because you read in some illegitimate online forum that someone somewhere said vaccines cause autism? Because of YOUR fear, I as an expectant mother must now live in constant fear? How is that right?
Something that those who choose not to vaccinate fail to see is this.... You are safe because of US! We protect you. Our selfless choice to vaccinate ourselves and our children has led to the widespread eradication of some of the most virulent and terrible diseases we have ever been faced with (Smallpox, Polio, Diptheria, Whooping Cough and Measles just to name a few). It is because of those who ARE vaccinated that you can walk around without fear. It is because of us that you have a choice. It is because of us that you have been safe. But now the time has come that this choice will begin to affect you. As more than 5% of the population chooses not to vaccinate we lose our Herd Immunity. This means that now not only are you putting your own children at an even greater risk, but you are putting every single child who physically cannot be vaccinated at risk! You are putting my daughter and children like her; who must delay the vaccination schedule due to chemotherapy at risk. You are putting my two unborn babies who will have to wait a full 12 months to be vaccinated fully at risk! You are putting the elderly at risk! How are these huge groups of people so unimportant to you?
Let me just say this, because I already know your argument, it’s always the same. You say your arguments are based on science, what exactly do you define that as? Because from what I can see it is a lot of posts from the internet being spread about, package inserts listing every possible outcome because they have to (roller coasters say that you could die on them... why? Because they have to list the worst case scenario - think about it). I have read through countless discussions silently. Looked at the profiles of those on both sides of this argument and there is something truly frightening about them.... those on the Pro-vax side are almost always university educated individuals... mainly in science, medicine, nursing etc. While those who fall in the Anti-vax group are more often than not completely uneducated in actual science. Again this may sound harsh, but I challenge you to find someone who works actively in healthcare who will stand beside you on your Anti-vax brigade... please go ahead! The fact is that you won't, unless they are doing it for the fame or being paid off. Why? Because they understand the science and they know that all the false claims against "Big Pharma" are exactly that... False!
But wait... theres more, because I already know your going to come at me with the Autism Argument. So... can we all finally just wrap our heads around the ACTUAL FACT that.....Vaccines do not cause autism! It has been scientifically proven to be genetically based, if you choose to ignore that and follow your pseudo science, god help you. Vaccines do not contain chemicals in quantities that can or will harm you, big pharmaceutical companies are not out to kill you! That’s psychotic to think and believe! You don’t want to be the less than 1% who has a reaction, fine, don’t be. But trust me when I say, if someone threatened to harm your child. If you thought for even one half a second that your child’s life was at risk, if you truly knew what it was to feel helpless against a microscopic enemy, to be at its mercy. Trust me you would do anything to save your child. You would do anything to help them. You would beg on your hands and knees for that vaccination. It breaks my heart that the ones who will have to suffer in this are the ones who cannot choose for themselves! The ones too young or too sick, they will be the ones who ultimately pay the price for your choice. I am sorry to be so abrupt but I have had enough. I am terrified to bring two more tiny humans into this world because of this and that is a terrible way for any mother to have to feel. I should be over joyed and instead that is overshadowed by this...
To all those who vaccinate, thank you from me and my babies.
Nichole M
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