From the moment you found out you were pregnant, you started protecting your baby. You might have changed the way you eat, started taking a prenatal vitamin, and researching the kind of car seat you’ll buy. But did you know that one of the best ways to start protecting your children against serious diseases is by making sure you get the whooping cough (Tdap) and flu vaccines while you are pregnant?
As parents, we recognize the importance of reading labels. I’m just as guilty as the next person: Follow me around the grocery store during my weekly shopping trip, and you’ll see that I’m definitely one of those people who stands in the aisles reading labels of every packaged food I buy, and I quickly reject anything that has a laundry list of ingredients with a lot of unfamiliar, unpronounceable items.
It is true that some vaccine ingredients could be toxic…at much higher doses. But any substance — even water or the sun — can be toxic given a large enough dose. And at a very low dose, even a highly toxic substance can be safe. Just look at Botox — one of the most toxic substances known to humanity — which is injected in small quantities into a person’s face to reduce wrinkles.
When it comes to their kids, parents are always planning. One plan that's easy to make could have a tremendous benefit, even saving a life: planning to have preteens vaccinated against human papillomavirus (HPV). HPV is a sexually transmitted infection that causes genital warts but can also cause cervical cancer, as well as anal, vaginal, vulvar, penile, and oropharyngeal (mouth and throat) cancers. About 17,600 women and 9,300 men are affected by HPV-related cancers each year and nearly all sexually-active people will come in contact with HPV in their lifetime.
When we at Immunize Nevada decided to start the #IAmTheWhy campaign, we did it to put faces to the masses who support vaccination. And as part of that goal, we are sharing with you the perspective of real moms offering real insights about vaccinations.
To that end, please meet Reno Mom Brandi Anderson, who unfortunately knows about the importance of community (or herd) immunity first hand.
Her son, Cooper Anderson, now 10, was diagnosed with leukemia four years ago.
When I was recently asked to give a TEDx talk about preventing cancer through HPV vaccination, I didn’t want my HPV story to be part of it. I didn’t want it broadcast to the world. I definitely didn’t want to talk about sex.
Eradication of many diseases is something that my generation takes for granted and gives little thought to. Growing up, I was frequently reminded of a special cousin my mother lost to polio. Not that long ago, children were killed or permanently disabled from preventable diseases.
