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Abbey Clint took her 7-month-old daughter to the doctor for a photo shoot last week, took a picture and wrote a Facebook post explaining how proud she was to vaccinate her children.
"I grew up without being vaccinated before it was too cool," she wrote. "I am obliged to make up for my vaccinations with every pregnancy I am happy I did not contract measles during my pregnancy I am happy that my babies do not have to suffer from preventable infectious diseases." Preventive helps save the co-pays and lives.
Pennsylvania's 30-year-old mother thought the article might irritate her Facebook friends, who are anti-vaccines, but while the US is facing a record year of measles cases, she wanted to highlight the facts. Misinformation spread through social media has resulted in lower child immunization rates. drop dangerously in some communities, public health officials said. In response, some parents are now turning to social media to spread information and a pro-vaccine message.
For people like Clint, who grew up hearing every argument against immunization, it's about calculating the risks: she feels lucky not to be seriously ill and not wanting to run that risk with her own children.
In addition to photos of the medical office, she published an infographic on the lack of scientific evidence linking vaccines to autism, as well as the risks of preventable diseases.
"There are a lot of anti-vax memes shared in my personal circles," she told BuzzFeed News. "So, I was just throwing a different side of things, just to stay focused on the conversation and not on an echo chamber."
People have been careful: in the days that followed, the message was shared in Facebook anti-vaccine and pro-vaccine groups, where it received more than 6,000 comments. Other adults who had missed childhood vaccines reported catching up and pledged to vaccinate their children. Some people thanked her for protecting her children, as well as infants too young to be vaccinated or people whose immune systems were compromised. Others have attacked, accusing him of putting his children at risk – or claiming that the girls already appeared to be suffering from dangerous side effects.
Clint told BuzzFeed News that his daughters had not had a bad reaction to the vaccines; they are healthy and active. And while some of the comments were combative, she said that she understands where the anti-vax mothers come from and who are hesitant about the vaccination.
"I think there is a lot of fear in this whole thing," she said. "It goes beyond the vaccines themselves."
Clint grew up unvaccinated because of her mother's opinion on medicine, which she described as fueled by mistrust towards doctors.
"We grew up without a lot of antibiotics, no Tylenol, no painkillers or anything like that," she said. "To this day, my mother's closet at home is full of all-natural supplements and you can not find ibuprofen."
For years, Clint said that she did not question those opinions. Before she and her husband got married, they discussed a plan to not vaccinate their children – after all, Clint had grown up without them.
But she continued to talk about the problem with other people, including her stepmother with rubella. The disease can cause problems for life if a pregnant woman passes it on to her child.
"What if I caught it and what if my baby caught it in my belly?" she says. "It's avoidable, that's what shocks me now."
In looking at other diseases against which vaccines were created, she thought about the risks of getting sick, of her children, or of someone else.
"I had to move away from all the emotions," she said. "I had to look at the statistics, see what sources I trust, and stay as unbiased as possible, as logical as it seems, and weigh my chances."
According to Clint, the risk of an allergic reaction was minimal, especially in relation to everyday risks such as driving in a car. But she was still hesitant, so she spoke to her pediatrician.
"He calmed my fears," she said. "I think it's really important to have a doctor you trust, I can not emphasize it too much."
Clint has now followed the CDC's recommended schedule for vaccines with her two daughters. She hopes that more and more parents and midwives will learn that the ingredients in vaccines are also present in nature and that children's bodies can handle them. Clint, who is Catholic, also hopes that the concerns of religious parents will be taken seriously in these conversations. (Some vaccines have a historical connection with aborted fetal cells, but the Catholic Church allows its use and encourages parents to protect their children and public health.)
Since her posting on Facebook, she has heard privately from friends who care about vaccines. They still plan to space their children's shots, but thanked them for providing information based on sound scientific evidence, she said.
Clint's decision to vaccinate her children was not made at once: she had to become familiar with over-the-counter medications, know the real statistical risks and trust her doctor.
"It sounds stupid," she said, "but it's a gradual process."
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