Reading through the truly awful antivax responses to my post where I state flatly and with conviction and evidence that the antivax movement is killing people, I was stunned to see Toni McCaffery had posted a response as well. Ms. McCaffery is the mother of Dana, the infant who died recently from whooping cough because the vaccination rate in NSW Australia is too low to afford herd immunity.
Toni: if you read this, please know that my heart goes out to you, and I swear to you that the bloggers on the right side of this issue will not rest, and we will continue to fight this fight as long as we can. It’s the least we can do for you, and for Dana.
A Facebook page has been created in Dana’s memory, and a website has been started as well to help get Australians to immunize their children.
I think that all of you reading this might also enjoy these four items that show you that we can help.
1) GiveVaccines.org will donate toward vaccinations for every trivia question you answer correctly. In a few minutes I was up to 30 correct answers.
2) Here’s a terrific post from an astronomer who vaccinated his son. It’s in Spanish, but there’s a link there to translate it.
3) Orac takes on Huffington Post, and annihilates them in stark detail.
4) But of all of these, this might be my favorite: an antivax mom comes around and becomes provax for all the right reasons. That’s a great story and really made my day.
We’re facing a huge and growing problem, but we have to continue to fight. Lives are at stake, the most innocent lives of all. Keep fighting, keep being heard, and keep spreading the word.
