“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 […]
I remember during my second pregnancy seeing an ad informing me that I could pass along whooping cough to my baby. At the time, I didn’t know what whooping cough was or what I could do about that. Looking back, I’m not even sure what they wanted me to do. Now, years too lot, I […]
Vaccines are literally a life or death situation for people like my father, who battled stage 4 leukemia after being given six weeks to live. He beat the odds and has been in remission since 2009, but now suffers from GVH disease because the bone marrow transplant he received during treatment wasn’t a complete match. […]
August is National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM), a month that is akin to St. Patrick’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Fourth of July all rolled into one (but for vaccines). In fact, maybe it should be called National Immunization Celebration Month instead. With immunization advocates across the country, Voices for Vaccines is celebrating NIAM in style, with […]
The vast majority of pro-vaxxers are content advocating behind a screen–whether they are emailing lawmakers, commenting on social media, or sharing online articles. But when the anti-vaxxers roll a bus into their neighborhoods, sitting behind a screen no longer suffices. Enter Craig Egan. This Tacoma, Washington father is known in pro-vaccine circles as their funny […]
Keeping communities free from vaccine-preventable disease is teamwork. As it turns out, advocating for on-time immunization is also team work. Over the past few years, Voices for Vaccines has worked hard on assembling our team. Part of the team is the larger network of vaccine advocacy organizations that have mentored us and collaborated with us […]