I’m followed by a lot of mums and dads and soon to be mums and dads so on the vaccine issue I will say this and leave it here: as a young medical student I witnessed a young child die of measles meningitis. A horrific death that has stayed with me. (1)
The consultant tried to comfort the shattered team by sharing his certain belief that- and I quote- ‘measles will soon be like smallpox- there is an effective & safe vaccine & soon no child will ever die like this’ This was the early 1990’s.
And then Andrew Wakefield happened (2)
And then Andrew Wakefield happened (2)
His research has been utterly discredited from every angle & over many, many years. The MMR vaccine saves lives. It is completely safe. There are sick children in Ireland and the U.K. tonight at risk of dying from a disease that is completely preventable & should be history (3)
Worse- there is contagion & now all vaccines are subject to second guessing by the ill informed. #HPVvaccine could eradicate cervical cancer (and others) within two generations but conspiracy theorists are undoing decades of investment & work and delaying humanity’s progress (4)
Vaccines work. They save lives. My kids- who are more precious to me than life itself- have been vaccinated with everything, at every opportunity, and on schedule. They will save lives - simply because they will never be the vector of disease that kills another child (5)
So- if you really love your kids- trust me and the overwhelming majority of experts- and vaccinate them. If you want to be a good global citizen- get vaccinated. And if you don’t believe me and don’t agree- don’t @ me unless you have a medical degree, a PhD and skin in the game.
