This week, we launched our Vaccines Save Lives project. As part of this project, we had the privilege of talking to a ton of people for whom this isn't a theoretical concept—it's deeply personal. Here are some of their stories.
Janie Oyakawa is a self-described “crunchy” mom of 6. A few years back, she was an active member of an anti-vaccine community. But then she started to question her beliefs… and ended up changing her mind entirely. Here’s what that process was like. self.com/story/from-ant…
Several years ago, registered nurse Ariel Loop took her 4-month-old to Disneyland, where she believes her child contracted measles. "If more children were vaccinated it’s unlikely that we would have had to deal with measles in the first place," she says. self.com/story/4-month-…
In 1990, when Ian Fields, M.D., was just 6 years old, his mother died from stage 4 cervical cancer—a cancer that the HPV vaccine can help protect against today. Dr. Fields writes about how her death made him a staunch vaccine advocate. self.com/story/hpv-vacc…
Jenni Black's daughter Brooke has taken immunosuppressants since her heart transplant at age 2. Because of Brooke's weakened immune system, Jenni has to go to extra lengths to keep her safe—and relying on herd immunity is a big part of that. self.com/story/parent-c…
Sabrina Adams, M.D., is a pediatric intensivist. She says it's heartbreaking watching a baby struggle to breathe because of a vaccine-preventable illness. She shares how treating infants for whooping cough has made her a tireless vaccine advocate. self.com/story/whooping…
Rikki Edelman has an autoimmune condition, and her immunosuppressant medication has transformed her life. But these drugs weaken her immune system and she can’t receive live vaccinations, so to stay healthy she must rely on other people who can. self.com/story/rely-on-…
Typically, vaccine-related stock photography is pretty awful: It’s often inaccurate (think oversized syringes and vaccines being administered incorrectly), fear-mongering (hello, screaming babies!), or some mix of both. So we decided to create our own. self.com/story/vaccine-…
SELF partnered with @AmerAcadPeds to create a series of medically accurate vaccine photos that convey the life-saving importance of vaccines. They're available to download by anyone to use for free, with proper attribution. Check them out here. flickr.com/photos/selfmag…
We worked with @AmerAcadPeds on these images. They advised on the shot list; an AAP physician consulted on set; and they checked every photo for medical accuracy. Given how much misinformation there is about vaccines, accuracy was crucially important. self.com/story/vaccine-…
1/ The way we think and talk about weight and health is broken. So we’re publishing the Weight Issue, a collection of stories intended to challenge how we think about weight and health: self.com/story/weight-i…
2/ Writer @iSmashFizzle spent an afternoon at Disneyland with our cover star, fat positivity activist and model @Tess_Holliday. Their conversation is righteous, thought-provoking, and important. self.com/story/tess-hol…
3/ EIC @CarolynKylstra lays out how SELF plans to discuss weight, health, and bodies from now on given our nearly 40 year history. By sharing this style guide publicly, we hope it will hold us accountable and keep us consistent going forward. self.com/story/self-wei…