Because most people younger than I am received their childhood vaccinations, they might not understand the risk that is rising in this country with Secretary Kennedy’s dangerous remake of the childhood vaccine schedule. We are moving backwards to the days when too many children were crippled, blinded, or killed by polio, measles, whooping cough, and all the other so-called childhood diseases children of my generation suffered through.
I was one of the lucky ones. I survived whooping cough, measles, mumps, chicken pox, and all the flu strains that simmered among the church populations where my father and mother pastored. I survived polio when I was four. Not all the patients in the polio ward at Valley View Hospital were as lucky as I was.
Dad credited prayers for my recovery, but he was quick to get my younger siblings vaccinated when the vaccines because available. He understood that he had to “put legs to his prayers.”
While I deal with post-polio, I see a new generation of children who may suffer the fates of mine. Science is not incompatible with faith. Just because you’ve never seen a case of polio doesn’t mean that it’s not lying in wait. Just because a man with no medical training is changing the vaccine schedule, doesn’t mean he knows what he’s doing.
If you want to give your children the best possible chance to be healthy, you need to make sure they get the protections that are available. Don’t let unverified theories about autism make you distrust a system that has worked for the past seven decades.
As for autism, it existed before there was a name for it. While there definitely needs to be more research, it’s not something new, and it’s not a reason to make children vulnerable to other childhood diseases.
By all means, feed your children more whole foods. Avoid highly processed foods. We all need to exercise more, even when our days are filled with jobs, families, and the stress of the modern world. We can make America healthier again, but it won’t happen by removing the Hepatitis B vaccine at birth. It won’t happen by being afraid to have your children vaccinated against the Human Papilloma Virus. It won’t happen by making insurance unaffordable.
We need to stand up for health and against those who believe in untested theories and supplements over science. We can make the nation healthier if we make sure that people are educated, that they can earn a living wage, and that no one goes hungry. In a country as wealthy as ours, no one should be without healthcare, and no one should be hungry.
Don’t let your children be the victims of Secretary Kennedy’s untested theories or the president’s disdain for insurance subsidies. We must all stand up for truth, scientific research, and a government that uses tax dollars for the benefit of the people. We have to stand up for ourselves and for the next generation.
