[Henndigo]

PP's have already made some great arguments about numbers of kids vaccinated and severity of symptoms with vaccination etc, but the other point to be made is that if the population as a whole was sufficiently vaccinated there wouldn't have been an outbreak in the first place. And that's the same point this article is trying to make. Socratic dog learned a bit about immunology but got sick the day they taught the more-relevant course on epidemiology, apparently.

I agree. When you read responses from non vaccinators they often say that the disease has mutated to a form not covered by the vaccine, so what''s the point? However, they seem to miss the point that if vaccination levels had been kept sufficiently high perhaps there would have been fewer evolutionary opportunities for it to mutate in the community.

I found the article a difficult read, Kaliah was such a beautiful baby. I'm amazed that her mother has found the strength to become an advocate. I'd be a mess in her shoes. She sounds a fantastic mother because she is still advocating for Kaliah even though she has passed away.

[purplekitty]

Apparently 1.5 million people have viewed Kahlia's story on Shot of Prevention.

http://shotofprevention.com/2012/04/20/one...ion-goes-viral/

Edited to try and fix link. Damn you iPad.

This post has been edited by purplekitty: 21/04/2012, 01:13 PM

[EBeditor]

EB's copy of the story (with some local info added) has been shared more than 2000 times on Facebook. The mother is so amazing and strong to become an advocate and share her story, despite the profound grief she must be feeling.

[mrs_bubbles]

Just devestating, tears streamed reading this.


What a brave mum for sharing her heartbreaking story.



I hope this changes the mind of anybody who is anti vaccination.

[melbelle]

I think there needs to be much more publicity and action on the part of GPs to encourage couples who are planning pregnancy to get boosters for pertussis.

I recently got my renewal notice for my drivers licence, about a thrid of the letter was taken up with an advertisement/public health notice recommending that everyone who is thinking of starting a family gets their vaccinations updated.

I had WC two years ago (lapsed vaccination) it was horrendous. Fortunately. I used this as a trigger afterwards to make sure I got all my boosters - DH was in the army for 7 years so hes vaccinated againsted everything, and then some

[Guest_bottle~rocket_*]

What state is this in Melbelle? We only found out about the WC booster from an MCHN after our baby was born.

In Vic the government offers a free WC vaccine to parents of newborns and partners of pregnant women. However if you are planning a pregnancy you have to pay for it yourself.

[jcbenny]

It's brave of such a young mum to write this story.

[F1widow]

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I recently got my renewal notice for my drivers licence, about a thrid of the letter was taken up with an advertisement/public health notice recommending that everyone who is thinking of starting a family gets their vaccinations updated.

I had WC two years ago (lapsed vaccination) it was horrendous. Fortunately. I used this as a trigger afterwards to make sure I got all my boosters - DH was in the army for 7 years so hes vaccinated againsted everything, and then some

That's awesome! I wonder if health notices in the mail get taken notice of a bit more now that letters in the post are novelty?
It would be interesting to see research on demographics of people who don't vaccinate and what their decision making process is like. I have this preconceived notion that they're all ignorant hippy conspiracy theorists but that's because the only non-vaccinator I've known believed the moon landing was faked and was married to a long-term unemployed stoner. I realise this is obviously a stupid generalisation but I've been too afraid to check the anti-vac threads just in case my suspicions were confirmed. You can't reason with people like that and it worries me.

[alli01]

OMG tears running down my face reading this . Poor girl, and so brave for wwriting this story, lets hope people take notice. She's just made a good point that NOT having vaccinations is more harmful than having them. My family including the grandparents have had all theirs updated, and the government does incentives and rebates etc for these too. I had my WC vacc done again 6 months ago in hospital after I had my DS and hubby and his done at the doc's for free the same week. It's actually a shame that they have made it mandatory for mother's now in hospital to have this vaccine after they have the baby but not for the fathers they have to organise it themselves.

So much more research and funding is going into improving these vaccines it's so not worth not having them done.

[1st time mummy.....]

This story brings me to tears Such a beautiful, little baby girl taken way too soon!

As I read this story though it makes me realise just how thankful I am that my son survived this horrible, PREVENTABLE disease when he was only 12 weeks old (3 months).

He had his 6 week needles (1st of 3 WC vaccinations) and the doctors assured me we would have probably been faced with a tragic outcome if he didn't have these. I had been vaccinated so had my DH and ALL immediate family. We don't know where he got WC from but definately know it was from the WIDER community. The thing people don't realise is that babies can pick up this illness so easily and simply from going to the local supermarket!

My son spent a week in hospital on oxygen and struggling to breathe. I think all anti vaccine parents need to spend a day in a children's hospital or intensive care unit to see these poor babies suffering from WC and maybe, just maybe, they would think twice about it!

My son is fully vaccinated but to those parents who don't agree with all vaccinations...at least consider this one! It SAVES LIVES and WC is a preventable disease that is killing innocent babies!!