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Anti-Vax Mom Turns To Social Media Meltdown After Family Rejects Her Baby For Safety’s Sake
Woman covering face with hand, showing rings, expressing stress and sadness about consequences of being pregnant anti-vaxxer.
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Anti-Vax Mom Turns To Social Media Meltdown After Family Rejects Her Baby For Safety’s Sake

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As the world fought the devastating war against Covid-19 a few years ago, another battle was fast heating up. In one corner, those who were willing to get the jab. On the opposite side, pockets of anti-vaxxer resistance, and some “Covidiots.” Soon, false health information was flooding social media, disguised as deep “research.” To this day, there are still friends and family who, after finding themselves on polarizing ends of the vaccine debate, are no longer on speaking terms.

While the Covid pandemic is, quite thankfully, now behind us, the Great Vaccine Debate still rears its ugly head time and again. One woman has shared how a years-long friendship is at stake because her pregnant anti-vaxxer friend refuses to believe in modern medicine. The woman is wondering whether she’s justified in banning her friend’s baby from seeing her own kid. And netizens are not holding back with their responses.

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    Health experts recommend children get their first vaccinations at birth, and follow a routine immunization schedule as they grow up

    Image credits: Getty Images (not the actual photo)

    But one pregnant woman is refusing to abide by this, and she’s getting a big dose of consequences from friends and family

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    Image credits: Valeriia Miller (not the actual photo)

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    Image credits: Brock Wegner (not the actual photo)

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    Image source: little_Druid_mommy

    There are vaccines to prevent more than 30 life-threatening diseases and infections, and here’s how they work…

    Image credits: CDC (not the actual photo)

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    Immunization prevents 3.5 million to 5 million deaths every year from diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), influenza, and measles. That’s according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Nowadays, we have vaccines to prevent more than 30 life-threatening diseases and infections.

    The organization explains vaccination as a simple, safe, and effective way of protecting you against harmful diseases before you come into contact with them. Vaccines use your body’s natural defenses to build resistance to specific infections, making your immune system stronger.

    Vaccines train your immune system to create antibodies, just as it does when it’s exposed to a disease,” reads the WHO site. “However, because vaccines contain only k****d or weakened forms of germs like viruses or bacteria, they do not cause the disease or put you at risk of its complications.”

    Most vaccines are administered via injection. And here’s what happens when you get “the jab”:

    Your immune system kicks into gear, and responds by recognizing that an enemy, or invading germ, has entered your body. It then begins producing antibodies to fight the virus or bacteria. Antibodies are proteins produced naturally by the immune system to fight disease, explains WHO.

    Your immune system also remembers the disease and how to fight it. “If you are then exposed to the germ in the future, your immune system can quickly destroy it before you become unwell,” reads the World Health Organization site, adding that vaccine are therefore a safe and clever way to produce an immune response in the body, without causing illness.

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    WHO goes on to explain that our immune systems are designed to remember. “Once exposed to one or more doses of a vaccine, we typically remain protected against a disease for years, decades or even a lifetime. This is what makes vaccines so effective. Rather than treating a disease after it occurs, vaccines prevent us in the first instance from getting sick.”

    The Covid pandemic created not only a wave of illness but also a flood of false information

    Image credits: Alexander Simonsen (not the actual photo)

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    Many people, their aunties, and the guy next door suddenly became “medical experts” who had done their own “research” on Covid-19 and vaccines. They felt they were better equipped than qualified scientists, and merrily dished out advice. Some knocked the vaccine. Others went as far as to say that Covid does not exist. 

    False information comes in different forms. Sometimes, unintentional mistakes lead to what’s known as misinformation. Or, being misinformed. On the more sinister end of the spectrum is disinformation: false or inaccurate information designed to deceive. Then there’s malinformation, which is information designed to harm.

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    “The majority of vaccine-related inaccurate information falls into the disinformation category,” notes Voices For Vaccines. “Typical types of disinformation include misrepresenting or purposefully misinterpreting scientific publications, making false claims that are backed by pseudo-science and non-credible sources or individuals.”

    Those sowing disinformation are aware they’re creating inaccurate or false information. But many of those who share or spread it are under the impression that it’s true. “This is how disinformation spreads,” explains the Voices For Vaccines site. “The information is written or packaged to look credible, so unsuspecting people believe it to be true and share it. Their friends share it and so on. Unfortunately, the more times people hear something, the truer it seems even if the facts don’t add up.”

    “Facts trump opinions”: many people felt the pregnant woman was being irresponsible

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    Robyn Smith

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    Robyn Smith

    Robyn Smith

    Writer, BoredPanda staff

    Robyn is an award-winning journalist who has produced work for several international media outlets. Made in Africa and exported to the world, she is obsessed with travel and the allure of new places. A lover of words and visuals, Robyn is part of the Bored Panda writing team. This Panda has two bamboo tattoos: A map of Africa & the words "Be Like The Bamboo... Bend Never Break."

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    Ieva Pečiulytė

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    Ieva Pečiulytė

    Ieva Pečiulytė

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    I'm a Visual Editor for Bored Panda. I’m also an analog collage artist. My love for images and experience in layering goes well with both creating collages by hand and working with digital images as an Editor. When I’m not using my kitchen area as an art studio I also do various experiments making my own cosmetics or brewing kombucha. When I’m not at home you would most definitely find me attending a concert or walking my dog.

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    ElfVibratorGlitter
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    So I'm really early in my pregnancy but I'm on some message boards and holy héll. So many woman asking strangers opinions on whether they should vaccinate. unless your baby is born with some illness that precludes it from getting immunizations...YES YOU SHOULD VACCINATE YOUR CHILDREN!

    V
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Honestly I am usually all for free will and stuff. But it's getting to the point with regular childhood vaccines where I just think they should be legally mandatory for every child (except those with actual medical reasons to not have them). No religious, moral or cultural reasons allowed. Jail time and children taken away from parents who refuse. So their kids get them anyway. Or at the very least parents who refuse to vaccinate their children should be held criminally responsible if their children end up in hospital or dead from preventable illnesses.

    Load More Replies...
    Michael MacKinnon
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Mild tweak: George Washington required his troops to get vaccinated for smallpox, not flu.

    Uncommon Boston
    Community Member
    Premium
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    My son was exposed to whooping cough and HIB. Even though he was vaccinated, he got both badly. My doctor reminded me, HE DIDN'T DIE. Children have died from these diseases. The vaccine saved his life. One terrible year I got the flu even though i always get a flu shot. I complained to my doctor. He said the flu was deadly that year and starting listing the number of people who died of the flu at local hospitals. Many were healthy to begin with.

    Astrid
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I had whooping cough as a kid and was vaccinated. It was a traumatic experience I still remember 43 years later, stamping my feet on the floor whenever I coughed. just to cope with the pain. Without the vaccine I dread to think how it might have been.

    Load More Replies...
    Load More Comments
    ElfVibratorGlitter
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    So I'm really early in my pregnancy but I'm on some message boards and holy héll. So many woman asking strangers opinions on whether they should vaccinate. unless your baby is born with some illness that precludes it from getting immunizations...YES YOU SHOULD VACCINATE YOUR CHILDREN!

    V
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Honestly I am usually all for free will and stuff. But it's getting to the point with regular childhood vaccines where I just think they should be legally mandatory for every child (except those with actual medical reasons to not have them). No religious, moral or cultural reasons allowed. Jail time and children taken away from parents who refuse. So their kids get them anyway. Or at the very least parents who refuse to vaccinate their children should be held criminally responsible if their children end up in hospital or dead from preventable illnesses.

    Load More Replies...
    Michael MacKinnon
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Mild tweak: George Washington required his troops to get vaccinated for smallpox, not flu.

    Uncommon Boston
    Community Member
    Premium
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    My son was exposed to whooping cough and HIB. Even though he was vaccinated, he got both badly. My doctor reminded me, HE DIDN'T DIE. Children have died from these diseases. The vaccine saved his life. One terrible year I got the flu even though i always get a flu shot. I complained to my doctor. He said the flu was deadly that year and starting listing the number of people who died of the flu at local hospitals. Many were healthy to begin with.

    Astrid
    Community Member
    1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I had whooping cough as a kid and was vaccinated. It was a traumatic experience I still remember 43 years later, stamping my feet on the floor whenever I coughed. just to cope with the pain. Without the vaccine I dread to think how it might have been.

    Load More Replies...
    Load More Comments
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