FUCK every single ghoul who has spread #vaccine misinformation over the past few years. Watch a child suffering from pertussis just once and it will change you.
This is fucking preventable and these babies have no choice. They rely on us.
I had to fight with my GP receptionist to get a vaccine in second trimester of pregnancy, even though it’s in the guidance. Said they didn’t have the staff available. And luckily I drive so could go to another surgery. Ended up making a complaint. Maybe more Mums are trying that you realise.
I got pertussis as an adult. It stopped me smoking immediately. Never have since. Don’t let babies go through it. Vaccinate. The whoop is you trying to get in a breath between the coughs. I slept (?) sitting up for 6 months and every time I did fall asleep, I woke up choking. It’s terrifying.
Everyone, please make sure you are up to date on your whopping cough booster: it is called the tdap and it’s only once every 10 years. I got my booster at my local grocery store pharmacy. Saving lives is easy!!!!
I have an immune disorder that makes taking vaccines absolute hell for me. When I was recently pregnant I STILL got the pertussis vaccine. The hospital nurses said it had “no side effects” but I felt very fluey on top of my severe pre-eclampsia, and it was absolutely the right decision. Vaccinate.
Not that I ever questioned getting my kiddo any of her childhood vaccines, but I once watched a video in which you could only HEAR the baby coughing, and I will never get that sound out of my brain.
The episode of This Podcast Will Kill You on pertussis has stuck with me more than any other. It starts with a mother talking about watching her infant die from pertussis. Truly awful stuff.
I've had whooping cough. My own fault for not getting boosted.
It was miserable, literally only breathed to take in air for the next cough. Went on for weeks, needed 2 cycles of antibiotics to clear it out.
My son got it aged just 5 weeks old, and it was terrifying. Too young to have had his first shot anyway but it had been going round school of a visiting cousin.
He stopped breathing and set off the under-mattress sensor. He needed strong antibiotics and that caused gut problems for years.
I lived in anti vax central and a six month old baby died of pertussis because of these uniformed self righteous dunning kreuger fuckstains.I’m so glad I left before COVID, I would have lost my mind
In 1977, when I was a med student doing my paediatric assignment, a major pertussis epidemic affected all parts of the UK
An even larger epidemic began in 1981, when I was a junior dr in paediatrics
Horrible to witness it up close
Lives with me still
As immunity wanes, it’s making adults ill too
Here in the UK most people are vaccinated as children, but not told the vaccine doesn't last into adulthood. Covid fucks your immune system up, so it's no surprise that we're seeing a lot older viruses and bacteria coming back with a vengeance. It's not just vaccine denialism
This radicalized me back in 2010, when an antivax-driven pertussis outbreak in my state sprung up just before my first son was born. I lost childhood friends over it, and that’s fine. I have nothing but derision and potentially hands for those selfish, violent people.
Pertussis immunity from vaccination fades after a while; you should get the Tdap or other variant every decade when you get your tetanus shot.
California had an outbreak a few years back, and a friend who was in her 40s or 50s got it, coughed painfully for 2 months, did not recommend the experience.
I chose to end a very dear and close friendship over her increasingly conspiratorial malarkey over vaccines, and radio silence after my Mom died from Covid.
That friend is on the Kennedy train presently.
I wish her the best but damn it- lives of other people are influenced/ended by dark age hooey.
This makes me so angry. My mother has had weaker lungs her whole life because of getting whooping cough as a child. She gets pneumonia repeatedly now, which is scary in an older person. We have vaccines for this now!
Being hospitalized for pertussis around 3-4 years old is one of my first memories. They sealed me in one of those breathing tents with steam and oxygen. But strangely, the thing I remember most is my mom being freaked out and inconsolable. The sound of pertussis cough is chilling and unforgettable.
I am someone who deeply believes that prisons should be only for the most irredeemable. The worst of society. Those who are such a danger they cannot be around people.
I 100% believe RFK jr needs to go to jail for his deliberate anti-vax lies.
With you 💯💯💯
I was thinking this on my way (coincidence) to the GP this morning. I grew up pre most vaccines. I think polio was the first vaccine I got.
I caught most things: both types of measles, chickenpox, viral meningitis, other things I've long since forgotten the names of.
VACCINES ROCK!
Protesting against vaccines has about the same logical coherence as protesting against safe drinking water and effective sanitation and sewage systems.
I remember anti vaxxers posting videos of their kids crying ( probably because they hit them or told them to cry or else) holding a sign to gain sympathy from others when the school suspended them or expelled them out for not being vaccinated
I regret to inform you that some humans suck this much.
"Proving" they are right is the most important thing & it does not matter how many have to die for them to keep believing they are right.
They will blame everything but the disease for the deaths & hide behind I was only asking questions.
Vaccines work ...to deny this is the height of stupidity....to deny this is to wish death and disease upon everyone in the world .... individuals who don't vax should recuse themselves from the rest of humanity and patiently wait for death to visit them....
I saw a short video of a baby with pertussis in one of my MPH classes almost 20 years ago and I still can’t examine that memory too closely. It was as impersonal as it could possibly be and it broke me. If it were my own kid, I’d be a wreck.
agreed my eldest had whooping cough despite the vaccine - it was only a mild form, thanks to vaccine- it was hell for him, i had it too and was pregnant. my views on anti vaxxers are too raw to put here