The anti-vaxx movement has been around for quite a while now despite all efforts by doctors and scientists to convince parents involved in the movement that it actually endangers their kids, and the kids who are around them. However, it seems that the movement is not going anywhere soon.
A Twitter thread by Syahidan Mazlan (@datomazza) on an anti-vaxx mum has gone viral. It was posted yesterday (13th August) and has already garnered 8k retweets!
The tweet showed a screenshot that was taken from a Facebook group. It was an anti-vaxx mum asking for advice from netizens.
Source: Twitter
The caption reads, “Assalamualaikum. Sorry I need to ask. Today is the 15th day after I gave birth to my 3rd child. Before going into the labour room, I already informed them (the doctors) to not inject my child with any vaccines and vitamin K. My first and second child are not vaccinated and in their immunisation schedule, it’s empty and written refused. It was today (11th Aug) that I decided to check my third child’s immunisation schedule. At the Hepatitis B (1st dose) column, it wasn’t written “refused”. Did my child get vaccinated without my permission? If yes, I would really, really like to take action against the staff that vaccinated my baby without my permission. Help me, what should I do? If my child is really vaccinated, I’d be so disappointed.”
Source: Twitter
Another mother said that she faced the same thing as well on 21st July. There was even a batch number, and her husband asked, “Why is there a batch number when we are refusing vaccination?”. The nurse just crossed it out, said that she wrote wrongly. The post has made her doubt if her child was left unvaccinated as she requested. She asked the group for advice and said that her baby is crying a lot, maybe due to the vaccine.
Source: Twitter
A curious netizen asked why they refused to vaccinate their children and one of them answered by saying that vaccines have lots of side effects and a lot of mothers had encountered AEFI (side-effects that may or may not be related to the vaccines itself). The woman then continued by saying that vaccines are viruses and contain metals such as mercury, aluminium, etc. She claimed they also contained pig and monkey DNA.
The post then quickly became a pro-vaccine vs anti-vaccine debate with pro-vaxxers giving their opinion.
Source: Facebook
A pro-vaxxer said that when the child grows up, don’t regret if they contract a lot of diseases because they were not vaccinated. They seem healthy now because they are surrounded by vaccinated people. He then asked them why they would trust a random article found on Google with no legitimate sources rather than trained medical practitioners? If a lot more people are not vaccinated then it will be easier to contract contagious diseases. He then gave a few examples and ended his comment by asking them if they wanted to see the next generation suffer because of choices like this.
Source: Twitter
Another netizen then said that if they refuse vaccinations because of AEFI, it’s fine because that’s their children BUT with the caveat that they (non-vaccinated kids) do not mix around with other kids as not to effect herd immunity. If they want people to respect their rights to not vaccinate, then they should respect the pro-vaxx community that wants to distance their vaccinated kids (that are being protected by herd immunity) from non-vaccinated kids.
Hmm, this debate that seems to have gone on forever has once again resurfaced. What do you think about this? Tell us in the comments!
Also read: Deaths Among Orang Asli Were Due to Measles, Ministry Of Health Explains Importance Of Vaccines
