Do you remember having chicken pox? I remember it well. I didn't get until 8th grade, so when I got it, it was horrible. Oh, the pain in my throat. The fever. The ITCHING. The marks all over my face. The ITCHING.
When I began reading about vaccinations while I was pregnant with Ironflower, I was thrilled to find out that they now have a vaccine for chicken pox. My babies would never have to suffer through the ITCHING. Also, they would not die (yes, chicken pox can kill too).
Today, the day after I returned home after speaking at a social media conference for health care non-profits sponsored by Immunize.org, I received a note from the kids' school. It seems another student has come down with chicken pox.
I recalled another speaker at the conference discussing why people can be against immunizing their children (I just spoke about using Facebook and Twitter and stuff like that, but it was fun to hear about the other stuff too, seeing as I have a personal interest in the health of children). She mentioned how these people do not trust experts like doctors and scientists, but instead the experiences of friends.
Apparently, some parent at my kids' school is friends with Jenny McCarthy.
Jenny McCarthy blames her son's autism on vaccines, in case you didn't know. And because of one flawed and later disproved study, thousands of parents are not vaccinating their kids. So the conference was about how organizations like health departments could use social media to get people to immunize their kids.
(Side note: Let's pretend Jenny's right, for a second. Maybe there is a vast conspiracy poisoning children with vaccines. I'd much rather have a child with autism than one killed by polio. Just sayin'. )
I love it when my universe comes together. The awesome social media ninjas (healthcare and social media experts) at the conference put together an entire social media campaign in 24 hours. If I find out who's got chicken pox I will be sending the links to them immediately. In the meantime, I suggest you check them out and follow Guysimmunize on Twitter. You can also hear about the conference at the Autism Science Foundation or like them on Facebook.
In addition to learning all sorts of neat stuff at the conference, I also discovered that people who work at health non-profits are a lot like teachers - predominantly female and liberal. But I think they might drink more. Did I mention what a great time I had?
But it's nice to be home, though Hot Guy and my parents held the fort down admirably. But somehow being here helps me believe that I can hold back any stray chicken pox germs that might get past their vaccinations, especially with ChunkyMonkey's being so new.
Not that I'd to worry about this at all if SOME people trusted scientists instead of former Playboy Bunnies.
