Despite tons of evidence to the contrary, anti-vaxxers still believe that getting vaccinated is somehow more dangerous than any of the preventable diseases the vaccines protect against. It’s gotten so bad that between January 1 and March 14, 2019, 268 cases of measles in 15 states have been reported to the CDC.
At least some of the kids of the anti-vaxxers are growing up, realizing that they’ve been misinformed by their parents their entire lives, and doing something about it. Ethan Lindenberger first asked on Reddit if he could get vaccinated at the age of 18 or if it was too late. (It was not too late, and he did get vaccinated.) His question got him noticed and he recently testified in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions about the perils of anti-vaccine proponents (like his own mother).
RT YahooFinance: Highlight: Ethan Lindenberger, the teen who testified to Congress about defying his mother and getting vaccinated, on the anti-vax movement: "The platform itself … would use Facebook as one of their main sources of spreading this misin… pic.twitter.com/kxNpr4WOdO
— Funding Hero (@funding_hero) March 11, 2019
Lindenberger isn’t alone in wanting to get vaccinated. One anonymous anti-vaxxer mom posted a question on the website Quora about how she could keep her 18-year-old son from getting vaccinated. Wow, that is some serious commitment to a very stupid cause. Some parents worry about their kids getting tattooed, but anti-vaxxer parents are afraid their kids will get the immunizations necessary to keep themselves and those around them safe from diseases.
Most of the commenters advised the mom to just let her son do the right thing and get vaccinated.
An MD (or at least someone claiming to be an MD) pointed out that in some states, kids can choose to get vaccinated without parental consent at the age of 14. He also brought up some recent cases in whichpeople had contracted illnesses that could’ve been prevented with vaccines.
A lot of people admonished the mom for choosing not to vaccinate her child in the first place.
One person jokingly suggested a way to ensure that the boy didn’t make it to 18.
Hopefully there will be morechildren of anti-vaxxer parents who grow up and get themselves vaccinated. Until there are fewer anti-vaxxers, it’s the best we can do!
h/t: Quora, Bored Panda