“In 1736 I lost one of my sons, a fine boy of four years old, by the small-pox, taken in the common way. I long regretted bitterly, and still regret that I had not given it to him by inoculation. This I mention for the sake of parents who omit that operation, on the supposition that they should never forgive themselves if a child died under it; my example showing that the regret may be the same either way, and that, therefore, the safer should be chosen.” ~ Benjamin Franklin – Autobiography
The Washington Post shares with us this article about inoculations going back centuries and Benjamin Franklin’s own experience with losing a child to a preventable illness. It’s a quick read about the differences in attitude towards vaccines now, compared to when they were in their infancy. I’ve often felt that the current views towards vaccines are something of a luxury. We take our health care and medical science for granted, because it’s all we’ve ever known. It feels stark in contrast to how powerless we actually are when something serious happens to our bodies. It feels like a bizarre juxtaposition, that we can blow off illnesses that seem serious when a healthy child can go from a low-grade fever to dead in a matter of hours.
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It feels silly to talk about how things feel when we’re looking at scientific evidence telling us in no uncertain terms that a vaccinated population is always healthier than unvaccinated population. Medical science is better now, but it can only serve us to its full potential if we take advantage of what it can offer.
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People have frequently asked if I felt like having my kids vaccinated against the flu was a waste, and if I feel it’s worth continuing to do going forward.
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Jude’s body failed to develop immunity from his shot. This happens sometimes (very rarely), and we are the worst case scenario and lost him because of it. If we hadn’t had him vaccinated he would still have gotten the flu and died – but I would live the rest of my life unable to forgive myself for not giving his body every weapon I could to protect him from preventable illnesses.
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When your child dies you begin and end every day with that painful knowledge, and it’s the soundtrack to all the hours in between. People sometimes ask me if I feel guilty that he died. Thankfully, I don’t have that on top of everything else. We did everything we could and there is some peace in that. I do feel that we, as a society, let him down by not taking advantage of all of the tools we’re given to protect all of us, and especially our most vulnerable. I feel sad that we, collectively, didn’t do everything we could to protect him. Jude’s death is no one’s fault – but we can all look at what happened to him and learn how to improve our prevention practices. People like Jude are counting on us.