Teenager gets vaccines that save lives in his parents' backs

We live in a strange time, where parents are protesting the right to subject their children to preventable painful and life-threatening illnesses, and their children are forced to sneak behind their parents' backs to protect themselves. .

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One of those teens, Ethan Lindenberger, from Ohio, asked the Internet for help to know how to get vaccinated after his parents had refused to do so while he was growing up.

"My parents think vaccines are a kind of government program," he said on Reddit. "It's stupid and I've had countless arguments on the subject."

"But, because of their convictions, I have never been vaccinated, God knows how I am still alive.But, I am in high school with a car, a license and money to me. I imagine that I can get them myself, but I've never had a conversation about it with anyone, and any advice would be great. "

His mother, Jill Wheeler, mistakenly thinks that vaccines are causing autism, probably because of a totally discredited study done by a doctor struck off the medical register for serious professional misconduct in the framework of which he conducted the study.

Unbeknownst to him and after receiving advice from Reddit, Ethan went to be vaccinated at the age of 18 and it was legal to do so, informing his parents thereafter. They were not happy, especially after the explosion of his post and reading online about what he had said about them.

"I did not immunize him because I thought it was the best way to protect him and protect him," Wheeler told Undark, adding that his decision to be vaccinated was "a slap." ".

"I love my mother, but she's crazy," Ethan wrote on Reddit after the Undark article drew a lot of attention. "Her radical and unscientific point of view puts my siblings at risk, no matter if she looks bad in an article or on the Internet, it is wrong not to protect her children. […] I am happy to share my story, despite its negative reactions. "

"If I catch whooping cough, I may be able to manage it because I'm older and have a good immune system," he said in an interview with BBC News. "But who can say that I do not cough on my two-year-old sister? It's an extremely scary thought."

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^{He then conducted a series of interviews on his decision.}

However, he made it clear that he was not blaming his parents and regretted the hard language that he had used.

"I had to apologize for some of the things I said on Reddit, where I said it was irrational, crazy, silly – because I was pissed off" he told BBC News. "I did not expect to be in the public eye and having to protect my mother, it's not fair to her … she did her own research."

If you are in a position similar to that of Ethan, you can view here additional information about the vaccination procedure in the United States. In some states, it is possible to get vaccinated before the age of 18.