WAG-at-war Rebekah blasts back at Coleen
Schools should bar unvaccinated pupils
family and friends that prevented me sinking into depression. The repercussions continued, though.
Mumps can cause the ovaries to swell, and my periods were affected to the extent that I was tested for early-onset menopause.
For months I had dizzy spells and intermittent deafness in my right ear. Even now, 13 months on, if I catch a cold my glands swell visibly.
I have been warned that this may be permanent — the older you are, the harder it is for the body to recover from being battered by the virus.
As a result of my experience, I have become a staunch pro-vaccines campaigner. I have written to my MP, joined a group campaigning for mandatory vaccination schedules to be discussed in Parliament, and appeared on TV and radio to discuss my story.
It infuriates me that the pick-up rate of the MMR vaccination has fallen so dramatically, and that some parents prefer to believe something they read on Facebook than to do their research and take advice from qualified medical professionals.
At the school gates, I have had heated discussions with other parents who strongly disagree with me. Such is the strength of feeling in this dispute that, sadly, it has ended important friendships.
But no matter what the anti-vaxx mob say, I won’t change my view on this. Something needs to be done before measles, mumps and rubella return as epidemics.
It is my personal view that schools and nurseries should enforce an admissions policy whereby unvaccinated children are refused entry.
I would further suggest that anti- vaxx parents should be obliged to disclose the fact that their children haven’t been vaccinated before those children can enter a public play area.
I know this is controversial and many would say it was a step too far. But while I don’t want to stigmatise unvaccinated children — they have no choice in the matter — if their parents have strong enough convictions to flout all medical recommendations, then I believe they should have the strength of character to admit it.
Because it’s not just their own children and their classmates they are putting at risk of life-threatening diseases, but some of the weakest and most vulnerable in society — the very young who are not yet old enough to have been vaccinated, the elderly who missed out as children, and anyone suffering from a serious illness that leaves their immune system compromised. All these people could die if they become infected with measles, mumps or rubella.
In the week before my symptoms presented, I held a four-month-old baby and visited a cancer patient in a hospice. Had I contracted the virus just a few days earlier, I would have passed it to them, putting them at real risk of a painful death from the disease and its associated complications.
It’s a thought that haunts me and fills me with rage. By not vaccinating their offspring, the parents of the child who infected me could have killed someone.
People need to be educated about vaccination and parents must be encouraged to consider the whole picture. Deciding not to vaccinate your child isn’t merely a ‘personal choice’, it has an impact on the whole of society.
When the time comes to have them vaccinated, research the facts. Consult your doctor. Talk to people like me who have suffered after contracting these viruses. Or talk to the loved ones of those who weren’t as lucky as I was.
This is not a matter of opinion. It is a matter of life and death.