Sharing Personal Stories

Vaccines are given because the diseases they prevent still exist.  Although you may not know someone who has had a vaccine-preventable disease, many families have endured the consequences of these infections.  We will collect some of their stories and post them here.

Sharing these stories is an important aspect of our work because many people today don’t know what vaccine-preventable diseases are like and, unfortunately, that means some people don’t feel it is important to continue immunizing their children against these diseases. As anyone who has lived through a vaccine-preventable disease will tell you, it is much easier to endure the brief moment of pain from a shot than to endure a serious illness.

Read a personal story
Whooping cough

Learn about additional resources
View other parents' stories in the videos

• "Vaccines: Separating Facts from Fear"
  "Vaccines and Your Baby"

Read parents' stories

• The Immunization Action Coalition's "Unprotected People" project. This is an ongoing project to collect reports about families' experiences with vaccine-preventable diseases. The coalition works to increase immunization rates and prevent disease by creating and distributing educational materials for health professionals and the public.  

Read about young people who have survived infections with meningitis

• The Vaccinators, a group of 11- to 19-year-olds whose goal is to raise awareness about vaccine-preventable diseases, including meningitis.

Submit a story
If you have a story that you would like to share on this site, e-mail it to contactPACK@email.chop.edu and put “Sharing Personal Stories” in the subject line.