Vaxxer/Anti-Vaxxer is the Wrong Conversation

[jenny8675309]

29. Thank you!

First of all, I am by no means an "anti-vaxxer" and have had all my children vaccinated. My oldest is starting college so I'm making sure she has all booster shots as well. I have been reading many of the postings railing against those who are considered "anti-vaxxers" and it has bothered me quite a lot. Why? Because a lot of these posts are making disturbing generalizations like "all anti-vaxxers are selfish", "all anti-vaxxers are smug, superior types", blah, blah, blah. Yeah, sometimes it feels good to vent but what does that accomplish? Nothing. A lot of these people who don't vaccinate their kids are just scared and they think they are doing the right thing. The best way to try and address that is through education, calmly stated not by screaming invectives. I remember a few years ago talking to a new mom at a basketball game and she mentioned that she was not going to get her new baby vaccinated because she didn't want to risk her child getting autism. I could have gotten on my high horse and preached to her about how selfish she was being, how stupid, etc. etc. etc which would have accomplished NOTHING, or I could try to empathize and then tell her what I knew about the subject. As it so happens why my first child was born when all the panic and hysteria about the MMR vaccine and autism was at full peak. I remember being absolutely terrified. I told this new mom about my struggles and my fears so I completely understood where she was coming from. (I told her I went ahead with the MMR and my kids were fine.) I went on to tell her what I had since learned, I told her about the Wakefield Study which started all the panic and how it has since been deemed a fraud. I could tell she was listening to me, really listening. I ran into her again about a month later and she told me that after talking to me she went home and did some more research on those things I had mentioned to her (the fake Wakefield study, a study in Japan that showed even after outlawing MMR the autism rates stayed the same, etc.). She got her baby vaccinated.