A mother whose child died aged six from a brain inflammation caused by measles hopes sharing her story will encourage parents to “vaccinate more”.

It comes as the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) warned of measles outbreaks in parts of London.

Gemma Larkman-Jones wants more parents to consider having their children vaccinated sooner.

Prof Dame Jenny Harries, UKHSA chief executive, warned that measles is spreading among unvaccinated communities, and added that a “national call to action” is needed across the country.

Vaccination rates across the UK have been dropping, but there are particular concerns in parts of the capital as well as in some areas of the West Midlands.

  • magnetosphere@kbin.social
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    10 months ago

    “Samuel didn’t need to die and that’s the guilt I carry every day with me,” she said.

    It was the anti-vaxxers fault, not hers. I hope one day she’s able to accept that.

    • Jumuta@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      I mean, you can move around the blame all you want, it’s more important to work on fixing the problem.

      For example:

      It’s not the anti-vaxxers’ fault, it’s the schools’ fault for not educating them well about vaccines and immunity

      -> it’s not the schools’ fault, it’s the government’s fault for not funding the educational sector enough

      -> it’s not the government’s fault, it’s x party’s fault for cutting taxes

      -> it’s not x party’s fault, it’s the voters’ fault for voting them in to the government

      etc etc.

      • isles@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Do you suppose finding “blame” is the key component to finding the “fix”?

        • dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          10 months ago

          No. They literally said finding the blame doesn’t fix the problem, then they illustrated how assigning blame is unproductive.

        • Jumuta@sh.itjust.works
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          10 months ago

          eh sure ig, but the issue is not the cause of one singular party so it’s kinda bad if just one party is listed as the blame.

          I don’t like anti-vaxxers but they’re not just the cause, they’re a result of a society that fails to educate about medicine.