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17 People On What It’s Like To Grow Up With Anti-Vaxxer Parents

7. 1742587’s parents pulled a total 180º :

My parents were very against it. Never particularly vocal about it but growing up, my schools would organise mass vaccinations for all the kids (MMR etc) and I was always mysteriously off sick those days. My school never noticed and I was always pretty happy as I have a terrible phobia of needles and never really understood the health implications.

I’ve never had any health problems but I’ve had partners weirded out by it. I was dating one guy who didn’t want to go near me once he found out I hadn’t had any vaccinations. That felt odd.

Last year there was a measles outbreak at my university and I was very nervous about it. Called my parents for advice and their response? “Go get the vaccine.” Classic. I’m guessing their opinions have changed over the years but they’re too proud to say outright that maybe they were wrong and their children’s health could now be at risk. About time I got the rest of them done!

6. Volcano_gurl had a truly horrifying experience, but it definitely caused their parents to rethink things:

My parents used to not vaccinate me or any of my four siblings, but when I was like three years old me and my siblings all came down with whooping cough. It scarred my lungs and I have yellow stains on my teeth because the high fevers cooked my adult teeth inside my head. My parents vaccinated us after that.

5. illtemperedklavier’s mom was simply trying to control her daughter’s sexuality:

My sister was the right age when they introduced Gardasil in schools, but my mom didn’t provide consent because she thought that a vaccine against a virus that is transmitted sexually would make my sister have tons of premarital sex.

4. anesthesiagirl endured a truly eye-opening experience:

My mom is against vaccines and I grew up in a very against vaccine school and was treated by homeopathic and holistic doctors. I used to believe all that sh*t. Then I started med school and changed my mind to ” vaccines aren’t bad but they aren’t necessary ” then I did a rotating at a pediatric hospital in the neurological area. That was a huge eye opener!! Meningitis is an awful disease and antivax never talk about it. The children I saw where the ones that survived and had brain damage afterwards, it was awful to see kids that could have had a perfectly normal life to end up like that.

3. sprytely is an adult who is currently trying to get vaccinated:

I’m in my earlyish 20s and I have never had vaccines, however I am very much for them! I’m actually embarrassed that I don’t have them. My parents didn’t vaccinate me as a child for a “legitimate” medical reason, so they say, but my brother was not vaccinated either. I am pretty sure I can get them now, regardless of if the medical situation is the truth or not. I’m on the search for a general doctor in my new state right now to ask questions and get vaccinated. I’m curious if there were any risks involved in getting vaccinated as an adult?

2. ekadie247 is still a minor, but seems to also have the right idea:

My mum is non-believer of vaccines. I am only 16, but I believe that scientists and doctors know what they are doing more than what my mum does. As of this moment I will vaccinate myself when I can, and my kids.

1. Kookalka wasn’t about the tolerate her parents’ bullsh*t where her new baby was concerned:

I was vaccinated when I was a baby as part of a mandatory vaccination program in the Soviet Union but my parents wouldn’t vaccinate/get boosters after we moved to the States. My family is pathologically distrustful of doctors and medication of any kind and prefers homeopathy and alternative medicines. I didn’t realize I wasn’t fully vaccinated until I went in for a physical in college. Up till then, I’d just assumed I’d been fully vaccinated in Russia (Because that’s what my parents told me).

I got all my shots up to date and I just never mentioned it to my parents. Their anti-medicine stance has softened as they age, but I generally avoid the topic because I can’t handle their bullsh*t and it never goes anywhere anyway.

That said, I had a baby this past December in the middle of a really bad flu season and I told my parents that they weren’t allowed to see the baby until they could produce proof of a flu shot (this is absolutely something they’d lie about, so yes, I demanded written proof). They both got one as soon as they realized I was serious.