Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I debated the wisdom of saying any of this on a public forum, even if my readers aren’t exactly legion.  I have at least one cousin and one friend who won’t agree with me, and those are just the two I’m quite sure of.  I imagine I know more people that won’t.  I, however, feel SO VERY STRONGLY about this that I cannot stay silent, and since this is my blog, I don’t really feel like I have to.

Today my precious, beautiful first grader brought home a letter informing me that there have been cases of Pertussis at her school.

This infuriates me.

My children are immunized, and my husband and I are adults.  I am not fearful for my family today.  I am grateful that I don’t have an infant too young to be protected, because of course someone could cough on my first grader’s backpack and she could bring home a disease that can kill.

I love history, and I’ve read enough about infectious diseases to be very, very grateful for the blessing of vaccines.  (I also had a friend and former boss who was permanently crippled by polio.)  I hate the F-word with a passion–I’ve never used it in my life–but I wanted to stand up and cheer when I saw Penn and Teller on Vaccinations on Youtube, because I feel that strongly about this issue.

I’m too upset and tired to wax eloquent, and so I will simply say this.  I do not believe that my pediatrician is lying to me about the best way to protect my children from diseases that once killed tens of thousands of children a year.  I trust science.  I vaccinate my children.  I honestly don’t understand why people don’t.

If I have another child, I will do it in a world where a preventable and dangerous disease is present in my daughter’s elementary school.