Five years ago, Voices for Vaccines relaunched as a pro-vaccine parent organization. On a personal level, working with Voices for Vaccines these past five years has been an honor and almost always a true joy. The absolute best part of this job, and of my efforts to coalesce a pro-vaccine movement to do good, has […]
A few years before my diagnosis, I had seen many doctors for irregular bleeding and cramping. Sometimes my paps would come back abnormal and doctors would tell me I had low-grade cell changes on my cervix and that my body would fight it off. Other times I’d undergo an ultrasound to check for endometriosis, but […]
Every parents’ life has been touched in some way by cancer. Whether they or their friends or their grandmothers or someone else has beaten or succumbed to some cancer, all parents know that cancer isn’t something to wish upon their worst enemy much less their own children. There are six cancers caused by HPV that […]
Well, maybe not everything. But a lot! If the Voices for Vaccines Facebook page is a gauge, this flu season is seeing the circulation of more flu myths than usual. Is this flu strain particularly bad? Is this year’s flu vaccine a bad match? Is the flu worth preventing? Does the flu vaccine make you […]
We started out following the doctor’s orders with our first baby—she received her first year’s vaccines on time. After a period of moving around a bit and coping with some family illness, we fell behind on immunizations, but did manage to catch my daughter up once we had settled in Texas. After a move to […]
“My sister-in law won’t vaccinated my nieces and nephews.” “My cousin has been posting anti-vaccine memes on Facebook.” “My best friend is convinced her child’s autism was caused by vaccines.” Voices for Vaccines receives many emails, but the ones about a loved one who is vaccine hesitant catch my attention first. Because of the volume […]
If you don’t know Tara Smith from Kent State, you should. That may be the main reason we asked her to be a guest on our most recent podcast. She’s smart, witty, and determined. But the excuse me made to have her on the podcast was a recent article she published, “Vaccine Rejection and Hesitancy: […]
Kimberly Coffey was 17 years old and days away from high school graduation when she caught what she thought was a case of flu. Days later, her family was saying good-bye. Many families would keep this story to themselves, but Kimberly’s mother, Patti Wukovits, knew that she could do something to stop bacterial meningitis from […]
Crossing the threshold into adulthood is marked by rites of passage: graduations, first jobs, and lowered vaccine uptake. Perhaps getting fewer vaccines isn’t a rite of passage, but ignoring vaccines as a hallmark of preventive health seems to be ubiquitous among adults who adhere gladly to well-child checks and immunization schedules for their children. Just […]
It all began on a warm afternoon in May of 1996. My 6-year-old daughter was swinging on her swing set when she suddenly stopped and, raising a hand to her neck, asked, “Momma, what is this?” I pulled her strawberry blond hair back to reveal a large blister-like bump below her ear lobe. “Does it […]