Voices For Vaccines

I was eleven years old, and in the early stages of meningococcal meningitis. Nobody recognized how sick I was.

by Ginny Cunningham No one tells you how extraordinarily brutal whooping cough is on a baby’s body. Episodes started with a small cough that became progressively more violent while my five-week-old daughter’s face turned blue. Then came several seconds of silence while she struggled for breath. That’s when you pray—pray to hear the famous “whoop” when her breath returns. It took thirty-three hour…

by Kelsey Fox Bennett Boyd, M.Ed. My organs were failing. I was going into septic shock. I was dying. And I was only 5 ½ months old. I had bacterial spinal meningitis and the nearest hospital to my small town in Colorado was not equipped for my sensitive case so they helicoptered me to the Children’s Hospital in Denver. For 4 days they weren’t sure if I was going to live, and for another week the…

Influenza can be a serious illness, even for kids. Ayzlee was a previously healthy 3 year old who became very sick and tragically lost her life to the disease in 2014. Amber, her mom, and Irelynd, her sister, talk about how this changed their lives, and why it’s important to practice prevention. Ayzlee was vaccinated that year against the flu. But her family emphasizes that vaccination will still…

by Brooke Andersen My brother Bobby went to school on Friday, January 18, 1991, for the last time. He was suffering from what seemed to be a mild flu and was sent home from school. When he arrived home, it was clear he had something worse. He was coughing, lethargic, nauseous, and pale. He lay down on the couch to watch cartoons as I brought him water and crackers. A bucket sat next to him for wh…

by Sonia Kirby It’s a sad irony that I was asked to share my family’s experience with measles on the day that Canada announced it had lost its measles elimination status. It now feels more important than ever to share our story. In 2011, I was pregnant with our second child when my otherwise healthy, 35-year-old husband developed flu-like symptoms. He went to work and went about his regular life …

by John Ward (Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination) and Karen Ernst (Voices for Vaccines) On December 4th, the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will consider rescinding the recommendation for the first shot newborns usually receive: the hepatitis B vaccine. Given within 24 hours of birth, this proven vaccine protects babies during a critical window of exposure to …

by Catherine Davis As the mother of five, I typically stay on top of vaccines and appointments. But 2023 was an off year, and we were late with flu vaccines–a mistake I will never make again. That year, my second youngest (Zachary) came home with flu symptoms on Halloween, a Wednesday. He stayed home while the other kids went trick-or-treating. By Friday, my youngest, Sophia, had caught it as wel…

The CDC’s vaccine committee (ACIP) met last week to review several vaccines, including those for measles-mumps-rubella-chickenpox (MMRV), hepatitis B, and COVID-19. They decided that COVID vaccines should still be available for everyone, but the choice should be made together with a doctor, and most insurance will still cover them. For kids, the combined measles-mumps-rubella-chickenpox shot (MMR…

by Colum R. I arrived at the emergency room about a week after I started feeling unwell. At first, I thought I had the flu. I was extremely lethargic and achy, and then I eventually coughed so much I puked. That’s when the rash appeared. As a child, I received some vaccines, but not the MMR. My parents had my best interests at heart, but they were generally suspicious of conventional medicine and…

They assumed my father's cognitive function would never be normal, but it was actually his personality that changed.

I didn’t know why I had been hospitalized, but it was greeted as something of a miracle that I could spell my own name.

My sister was in a coma for a very long time. We were excited when she woke up.

The panic of having to go back into isolation over the measles and unvaccinated individuals is overwhelming. We want nothing more than for our kids to try and have normal lives.

I had already begun my descent into conspiracy theories before I became a parent, but the instinct to protect my children kicked it into overdrive.

Thimerosal contains very tiny amounts of ethylmercury, which is safe and quickly leaves the body. It’s different from harmful methylmercury found in some fish. Thimerosal has been used safely in vaccines, drugs, and contact solutions since the 1930s. Decades of studies across the globe have shown that thimerosal is safe in the amounts used in vaccines.

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My mom always told me that measles was what made my sister sick. I was 8 when she finally explained the whole thing.

We have big work ahead, and we can’t do it without you.