Have mentioned this before, but I spent an entire Christmas season in hospital, in an oxygen tent, as a child because I had a not-even-particularly-bad case of pertussis. I'd like us to go back to the time when telling people you once had "whooping cough" got you a "that's not a real thing" look.
I had mumps & whooping cough as a kid, because I was prem and they didn't vaccinate me. Nearly got me, maybe caused life long lung damage, not sure.
ANTI-VAXXERS KILL CHILDREN
My partner (who is 40) had pertussis as a kid and he says the same thing, people used to not believe him when he told them about it because everyone got the tdap vaccine and no one had to know what it’s like
Had it as a kid. It was not fun. Nor were measles, rubella, mumps, chicken pox, scabies, lice, scarlet fever, and especially meningitis - that one killed me, though I got better. Vaccines are A Good Idea. Anti-vaxxers need to be locked in public safety colonies with their beloved infectious people.
Please people I beg of you, get your kids their vaccines - these are deadly diseases! I suffered for months in a tent as a baby, my parents were scared, my sisters cried for me, don’t do that to your families.
When I was little the vaccine batch that year wasn’t effective and I ended up in an ambulance, blue lips, and spent a week at the hospital in an oxygen tent. When I was pregnant, I jumped at the chance to get the vaccine so my baby would have some immunity.
Obviously you don't want your kids to die of something, especially something with such a dumb name, but I promise you that you also don't want them to have to go through the symptoms of a non-fatal case of something SO EASILY AVOIDABLE.
It wasn't diagnosed, but it was at the time of a wave in my age group, so I believe the cough I had in sixth grade, by which I mean all but straight through sixth grade (caught early in the year and didn't shake it until summer) was pertussis.
Coughed so much my lungs, or whatever in there has nerve endings, hurt. Coughed so much I couldn't get a decent amount of sleep. And that was theoretically "mild," bc I was older and my vaccine immunity was waned rather than nonexistent. Not recommended for small beings.