
A new report published by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) found that half of all parents with small children have been exposed to misinformation about vaccines on social media.
The most common reason not to vaccinate, the report found, is the fear of side-effects.
With this in mind, one woman whose life was devastatingly changed as a direct result of a vaccine is encouraging parents to vaccinate their children anyway.
A thread that made the rounds last year has been unearthed once more in light of the debate surrounding the importance of vaccines.
A woman called Tiffany Yonts received the tetanus and diphtheria vaccine as part of a routine check-up when she was 14-years-old.
However, she developed an untreatable autoimmune disease called Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), which is listed as a one-in-a-million side effect.
GBS is a rare disorder that makes the body attack itself, resulting in an immune system response that causes damage to peripheral nerves. This impacts a whole host of other systems in the body, and can disrupt movement, cause muscle weakness, paralysis and make it hard to breath.
Tiffany, who was a competitive swimmer and had to give up the sport after the painful diagnosis a year after she got the vaccine, experienced most of these symptoms.
She's still firmly pro-vaccines.
Read her story, below:
my arm tripled in size from the injection & was very painful. i started to have trouble breathing. then most of the… https://t.co/R1JG3UYgVO— margarita pigeon. (@margarita pigeon.) 1528448119
it was a waking nightmare, made worse by the lack of a diagnosis. it took 2 years for us to find a name for my cond… https://t.co/ZrcoTfuuzX— margarita pigeon. (@margarita pigeon.) 1528448335
i spent many days lying on the floor gasping for air. i couldn't sit up for more than 5 minutes at a time. i still… https://t.co/maOr3kCO7h— margarita pigeon. (@margarita pigeon.) 1528448548
so many would assume that i'm anti-vaccine. which is entirely, thoroughly, grossly incorrect. i am an unwavering su… https://t.co/us9xy3CLxY— margarita pigeon. (@margarita pigeon.) 1528448728
there is nothing in modern medicine that comes without risks. there's nothing in LIFE that comes without risks. i u… https://t.co/EmDaAbiiMc— margarita pigeon. (@margarita pigeon.) 1528448924
when you don't get vaccinated, you put at risk the lives of all of the people like me who CAN'T be vaccinated. you… https://t.co/uRaTh7Yt7O— margarita pigeon. (@margarita pigeon.) 1528449073
do the right thing--the socially conscious & caring thing--& get vaccinated. thank you.— margarita pigeon. (@margarita pigeon.) 1528449236
As her thread is once more shared across the internet, one person wrote:
Not all heroes wear capes, thank you for sharing your story!
Tiffany took to Twitter to answer more questions about her illness, and she wrote:
i have told my story as truthfully as i can. i've done years & years of research on my condition. & it's true that there's still very little known about gbs. i fully admit that. but i've stuck to current scientific opinion.
More: This senator and former army colonel obliterated Trump's transgender military ban in a single tweet
More: Tim Farron's 'Taste of Cumbria' email to MPs didn't quite go to plan when it landed in inboxes
