Bring up the word “vaccines” in any cordial, adult conversation these days, and you’re bound to find yourself in a blood bath of research, beliefs and very STRONG opinions on whether or not a child should receive what doctors believe to be life-saving vaccines.
Regardless of whether you believe that early childhood vaccinations pose the threat of autism and developmental disorders or not, one mom is pleading with Facebook users to get their children vaccinated—for her daughter’s sake.
Camille Echols is on the “pro” side of the vaccination debate. She believes kids should be vaccinated when they are able because without them, other people are vulnerable to the harmful effects of age-old diseases that were eradicated long ago.
Camille Echols
The constant battle in the vaccination debate is: If your child is vaccinated, and mine is not, then your child is safe from any disease that my child may (but will likely not) contract.
But as Camille explains, that’s not always the case.
Though a believer in vaccines, Camille’s daughter, Ashley, is not vaccinated—because her body wouldn’t allow it. And she wound up in the hospital because of it.
“There are people who cannot have live vaccines, like my daughter, who had a kidney transplant when she was 2 years old. She got one varicella vaccine but couldn’t get the second because she was immunosuppressed and instead of developing immunity, she would have contracted the virus.”
With Ashley not having the opportunity to be immune to viruses like the chicken pox, Camille had no choice but to rely on other parents to vaccinate their children for the sake of her unprotected little girl.
But they failed her. Ashley contracted the chicken pox virus, which can be life-threatening—especially for a little girl who’s been the recipient of an organ transplant.
Facebook
A pediatric RN with over 10 years of experience working with transplant and chronic illness patients, such as her daughter, Camille says that everyone has statistics, but not everyone has the facts. And that’s ultimately what put her daughter in the hospital under constant care for an unforeseeable future: