Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Why I support California SB 277


I'm not one to do controversial or push my views and beliefs on anyone, but being a Californian, a mother, an Early Childhood Education student and teacher, and a pro-vaccine woman, I feel like sharing my heart today. (Plus, this IS my blog and I do what I want here ;)

Senate Bill 277 or "SB-277"  is the public health initiative enforcing vaccines to be up to date on any/ every child before being able to be enrolled in any school in California.  It would  "eliminate the exemption from existing specified immunization requirements based upon personal beliefs" (from SB-277 public health: vaccinations, online) and is causing quite the stir in vaccine by choice circles

Before I even had my babies, I was going to school as an ECE student to become a Preschool teacher.  One of my required courses was a Health and Safety class and we covered vaccinations.  Now, my feelings prior to that class and before having children was very different from how I feel now, as in, the exact opposite.  Well, the pictures I saw in that class have stuck with me to this day.  Children walking on their hands, their bodies ravaged by Polio.  Children covered head to toe with a red rash from the Mumps and Measles. Gah.  It makes me want to cry just thinking about it.  And that's when my opinion about vaccinations changed.  Why would you deny your children good health?  Why would you let diseases that were nearly eradicated (this is you, Whopping Cough) come back?  Why would you knowingly put other children at risk?  

I have taught Preschool since 2006.  I have cared for dozens of children every year since then.  I do not know how many of those children were vaccinated or not, but I do know I had a couple come down with Whopping Cough the year it hit California hard (2009) and was so confused because I hadn't even heard of Pertussis prior to that.   

Come 2011, I and my newborn daughter were given the Pertussis vaccine at discharge and I in turn had both sides of our families vaccinated. I was not going to play around with a disease if the baby I grew in my womb, labored for 12 hours with and pushed out of my vagina needed to be protected against it within 2 days of her entering the world.  Brielana also received the vaccine at 2 days old.  

Both of my daughters are also up to date on their vaccines. I stick to the vaccination schedule but 3 shots is the most I do in one visit because more than that seems mean. I did push back the age of when Kinsey received her first MMR vaccine (from 18 months to 2 years old) with her Doctor's consent. But with Brielana there was that scary outbreak of Measles at Disneyland (which actually postponed a trip there in February because at the time Brielana was not yet old enough to receive the MMR shot) she got hers at 18 months. 

I take health seriously, especially when it comes to my babies.  I am their advocate.  I am charged with caring for their every need.    

I am for SB 277.

Linking up with Beth.
Pinterest_Hover Instagram Google_Plus Facebook
Email Twitter Goodreads Bloglovin

8 comments:

  1. A million times YES to this post!!! I have 4 kids, all 4 are 100% up to date with their vaccines and I seriously don't understand or even want to try and understand why parents do not vaccinate.

    Jen@Jpabstfitness.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello and welcome, Jen! I hear you! Thanks for the support. Have a great week :)

      Delete
  2. Wonderful post!!! I 100% agree with you!! I have a hard time with parents who don't vaccinate and don't get me started on Jenny McCarthy!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes! Actually Penn and Teller did a really good video on this subject, random I know. But I don't understand the I don't want to vaccinate my kid thought process...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes. Yes. Yes. I honestly cannot wrap my head around the idea of NOT vaccinating. It pains me to think that there are parents out there who are putting my babies at risk by choosing not to vaccinate their own kids, especially since my little one it just too young to get most of the shots she needs to keep so many of those nasty diseases away.

    ReplyDelete
  5. YES YES YES. I completely agree as well. I'm not about to have my kids get a disease that's been eradicated for many many years all because you don't want to vaccinate your kids. Nuh uh no way. Plus, if they think that vaccinating is so horrible... the measles or polio isn't? I mean come on.

    ReplyDelete
  6. As a teacher in NC, yes to this post. This shouldn't even be an issue in this country. Diseases can be contagious and no way should other children be exposed. I'm for people having their beliefs but not at the expense of making other children ill. I don't just with a common cold, but these are serious diseases that cause disbility and even death. Thank you for bringing this to the attention of many through your blog and sharing it with us on Tuesday Talk today. Hats off to you.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Share your heart away, I couldn't agree more. The thought of babies getting diseases that could be avoided from kids whose parents chose to not vaccinate quite frankly just pisses me off.

    No exemptions, get the dang shots.

    Okay, I'll calm down now :).

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. You make my day and put a smile on my face :) I respond to every comment so let's start a conversation, shall we?!