People who don’t vaccinate their children will be the reason I die

Vaccination is something I fully support. It keeps people healthy, it prevents the spread of infectious disease and in some cases, and it can completely save a life. The people who don’t vaccinate their children put their children at risk and put the lives of others at risk, but too often they don’t understand that. The vaccination debate has been covered heavily in the media of late. We’ve had young parents fighting over whether or not it is appropriate or morally right to vaccinate your children and I think it’s time that someone else had their say. One day, someone who didn’t vaccinate their child could be the reason I die and this is why.

When I was younger I had whooping cough vaccination. I had a severe reaction to the vaccination and I was deemed allergic so all my life I have been at risk of these diseases. When I was younger I didn’t quite understand but as I have aged I’ve become incredibly conscious when it comes to personal hygiene and removing the risk factors in my life.

I’ve had to control the controllables and made sure that I was diligent in washing my hands, not touching my face and not touching unclean surfaces. This wasn’t because I had a fear of germs, but because if I didn’t, I could put myself in grave danger.

The problem is the things that I can’t control. I can’t control someone else changing directions away from me when they cough or sneeze. I can’t control whether or not someone covers their mouth as they do so while we walk past each other in public. And I can’t control whether or not parents decide to vaccinate their children.

They have every right to decide not to, but I wonder if they really understand the implications of their actions when it comes to other people.

If a child is infected with a disease like this, they fall very ill, but their young bodies are more often than not designed to fight it. Their bodies are at their peak health and their immune systems grow stronger every day. This means that they generally have every chance of surviving a disease, but as we age we aren’t so lucky.

Our immune systems weaken with age, our bodies face new challenges and we aren’t as healthy as we once were. Our bodies are no longer designed to fight disease and sadly, this makes us so much more susceptible to a dire ending when contracting a disease.

If a parent chooses not to vaccinate their child it is their right. If that child contracts whooping cough and spreads it to someone in the kindergarten class then whether they have the vaccination or not, they are designed to fight it and will hopefully pull through healthy. If that child spreads it to me by coughing in my direction while sitting at a café, then I know that my body may not fight it and that decision not to vaccinate that child could be the very reason that I die.

We all have a responsibility to give other people in society safety. We are cautious and careful when we drive so we don’t put others at risk. We don’t carry weapons on our person so other people aren’t at risk. And we shouldn’t put others at risk by choosing not to vaccinate.

The science is there to support vaccination so why someone wouldn’t do it to safe a life is something I just don’t understand.

Tell us, where do you sit on the vaccination debate? Do you think it’s a matter of public safety? Share your thoughts in the comments below…