Last Updated on: 3rd May 2015, 07:46 pm
This post about anti-vaccers reminded me that I wanted to write something about a story I saw 3 weeks ago. Well, considering how old some of the stories are that I’ve kept around to possibly post about, this one’s goddamn current.
So the story goes that an Ottawa family had vaccinated a couple of their kids, but then got scared by all the anti-vaccer stuff, and stopped vaccinating. This was 6 years ago. They originally stopped until they had further info, but they didn’t do any research because life does that to you. Then the Measles outbreak happened, and they thought now would be a great time to do their research. After 50 hours of rooting, digging and talking, they discovered that they didn’t have to be so afraid of vaccinations, and should probably get their kids vaccinated. I give them a lot of credit for being able to change their views based on research. Sometimes when you’ve taken such a position, it’s hard to be logical. You just want to be right.
They made appointments to catch their kids up on their shots, and were just about to start them when the whole pack of unvaccinated littel rug rats got the whooping cough. Yup, the Whooping Cough, you know, one of those things that you vaccinate your kids against when their wee? If there is someone upstairs pushing buttons, that someone has a super good sense of humour, or really wanted to drive the point home.
So, the whole wack of them was quarantined, and the public health unit helped get everyone treated for…something they haven’t had to treat anyone for in forever. I wonder how far they had to go back in historical records to figure out how to treat someone for pertussis.
Now, more than ever, they say they’re going ahead with getting everybody caught up, and they’ll start as soon as they’ve been given the go-ahead.
So, good on them for changing their minds, but I can’t help but chuckle a little that they had to learn first-hand that those shots are a good idea.