This article is copyrighted by Fearless Parent™ April 18, 2016. This work is reproduced and distributed with the permission of Fearless Parent™. Want to learn more from Fearless Parent™? Sign up for the newsletter here. Like and follow Fearless Parent™ on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
by Louise Kuo Habakus
We received a comment from “Anonymous” in response to a recent post who expressed dismay that she had to rely on other parents to vaccinate their children in order to keep her immunocompromised daughter with Selective IgA Deficiency safe.
I was moved to respond. And then I hesitated.
This may sound like a cold question but our savvy readers know that the CDC and other pro-vaccine stakeholders routinely pay “mommy bloggers” with our tax dollars to write (and comment) about the benefits and advantages of vaccination. Here’s an ad circulating last month from Megan Media: [photo at site link below]
Megan Calhoun of Megan Media was a “public relations executive at leading firms where she specialized in healthcare.” After making the social media rounds via outraged parents, this ad is no longer accessible to the general public but others will surface. It’s just one of countless such opportunities. You can also read a 2011 CDC presentation about their mommy blogging program.
Whether this mom is real doesn’t matter because the message — that all children must be vaccinated to protect the immunocompromised — has been so avidly promoted by pro-vaccine interests that scores of parents believe it to be true.
So let’s assume that she’s real.
My heart is with you and I’m saddened to read about your daughter’s pain.
Our readers include countless parents whose children have a wide range of pediatric chronic, autoimmune, neurological, and developmental conditions. In fact, most parents can relate to your family’s situation with empathy, not just sympathy, because sick kids have become the new normal. And many of these children, like your daughter, have some form of immune dysregulation. They navigate their worlds — whether socializing, learning, communicating, eating, sleeping, exercising, and/or breathing — with difficulty and oftentimes at significant personal risk.
When we say that we feel your pain, we truly do. It’s terrifying.
There’s a temptation to think in terms of right and wrong, to take sides and dig in. Rather than framing the issue in terms of “you versus me,” it’s really just us. If we speak to each other, mom to mom, I know we’ll find that we care about the same things: healthy children, a healthy society, a hopeful and bright future.
We may have an honest disagreement about vaccination but we can still engage respectfully. And at the end of the day, we’re on the same side.
Read the full article at Fearless Parent™.