A little bit about me….why I’m standing up against Anti-Vaxxers…

Anti-vaxxers are a disgrace. They really are.

Vaccine hesitancy is getting to the point where it’s actually rated as one of the top 10 threats to Global Health, by the World Health Organisation.

Can you believe that? It actually pisses me off so much.

When I came to write this blog, I had an idea of countering the myths that I see anti-vaxxers spreading online, but now, at the time of writing, I’m actually angry.

Individually, I could not care less whether their darling crotch goblin is vaccinated or not…but it’s not really an individual issue is it. Antivaxxers just love to say, “If your vaccines work, why are you so afraid of our unvaxxed kids?” And to me, that just sums them up. Their lack of basic understanding and their selfish, lack of care for their fellow human beings.

What really, really, really pisses me off though, is how vocal they are and the potential effect their increasingly LOUD, arrogant and misinformed voices are. Every where you turn online, you’ll see another total bullshit story, about how vaccines “damaged” their kids, how vaccines killed their next door neighbours, baby sitters, third cousin’s stepson. They share their scare stories, without a regard to the damage that this might cause others.

Let me tell you a bit about me to set the scene – details have been changed to protect my family, as we all know just how batshit crazy some of the AV cult are.

I’m a medical professional, who has worked with children and families for over 15 years. I’m also a mother. I have two boys – amazing, healthy, wonderful kids (don’t all mothers think that though!). I had my eldest when I was young, way back before the turn of the century. The internet was a relatively new thing. We had to dialup through the phone line, information was scarce, and there certainly wasn’t any blogs, Facebook, mom groups – you get my drift. Any pregnancy and child care advice either came from library books, the Child Health Nurse or my own parents. Vaccine time came, and like everyone of the time, I took my kid to the appointments, got his shots, and forgot all about them til the next lot were due.

When the eldest was a few years old, I went back to school, got my degree and worked in the medical field, where I worked with children and families. I immunised babies, children, adults multiple times a day. Antivaxxers will tell you that medical professionals don’t learn anything about vaccines, other than to give them and get paid….I CALL BULLSHIT. I did extra qualifications before I could even administer a vaccine – and frequently kept myself up to date, with the latest research, new recommendations, new myths about vaccines – it was never just give them and get paid. I get paid regardless if I vaccinate zero patients or a thousand patients a month. Obviously, from time to time, I would encounter a patient who was hesitant to vaccine, and of course, I would see the occasional comment on news posts about flu shots, but my professionally trained mind would see straight through whatever claims were made.

Anyway, years passed I moved into a different field, a different country, and then as my biological clock ticked away loudly, I was pregnant. By now, the landscape had changed for pregnant mothers, and I found myself immersed in mom’s groups, which was when I finally realised the actual effect of the mad AntiVaxxers.

So along came Junior – bounced on into this world with the most beautiful eyes – looking like his older sibling. I didn’t even hesitate for one second when it came to his Hep B shot (and his Vitamin K for that matter – that’s not even a vaccine but the antivaxxers still lose their shit over it!).

At his 2 month well baby check, I started to freak out – what if the Antivaxxers were right? What if they knew something I didn’t know? What if there was a element of truth in what they were saying? My anxiety went through the friggen roof. I managed to get his shots though, and he was totally fine (like the vast majority of kids).

At his 4 month shots, I went through the same – I made his daddy come to the shots with me this time. Even though, I’d immunised hundreds, if not thousands of people, when it was my baby, I still hated it. Again, got his shots, not even a fever!

Come the 6 month shots, I’d gone deeper down the rabbit hole so to speak, and actually delayed his appointment by a few weeks, and this is the point to this story, I’m a fucking health professional who KNOWS the science, KNOWS the diseases and how harmful they can be, who KNOWS that the risks of the vaccine are so much less than the risks of the diseases they aim to prevent, who KNOWS that 99.999% of all side effects are minor and transient, but yet these FUCKERS still got in my head.

Can you imagine what it could do to first time parents, who just want to do the best for their kids. These AV fuckers are spreading their bullshit far and wide, creating unnecessary anxiety and putting doubt in people’s heads. How many take their bullshit at face value, and leave their babies vulnerable on the basis of a fucking lie spread by Jenny McCarthy or Mr. Wakefraud? How many new moms fall for the utter shitty studies that the AVs love to share, which prove nothing except the author can SPELL (Neil. Z. Miller, I’m coming for you!) How many parents decide to delay their kids vaccines, because friggen Karen from mom’s group said the vaccines damaged her son in ways that is biologically fucking impossible?

So, I’m going to start calling out their bullshit, and talking about it here. I don’t know if anyone will read this other than me, hopefully a new parent looking for information will stumble upon this, and get some reassurance that the noisy antivaxxers are nothing, but full of shit.

My idea for this blog is to share some of the more ridiculous claims I come across on social media, and maybe just laugh at how ridiculous it is, or maybe talk about why it’s so ridiculous. I’ve been working on a project around one of the more ridiculous sources, and while I don’t have the time to write it to publication standards, I will share it here.

I’d have a much quieter life, if I didn’t take on these idiots on a daily basis, but as someone who knows the effect their shit can I have, I feel it’s my personal duty to try and stand up to these fools! If all else fails, this can be my outlet for dealing with the resulting fatigue of trying to show these fuckers the error of their ways.

If anyone happens to come across this, drop me a message, would love to hear if you too are fighting the good fight – maybe we can fight them together!!!