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.
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
Image credits: Valeriia Miller (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Brock Wegner (not the actual photo)
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)
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.
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)
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.
"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
