“I WAS AGAINST VACCINES...

but not anymore.” Three women talk about how they came to see lifesaving immunizations in a new light.

- Liz Krieger

MOST PEOPLE GET vaccinated against diseases like measles, mumps, pertussis, and influenza because they fear contracting a serious illness and they trust the wisdom and competence of the medical community. But some believe the real threats are the vaccines themselves—and on this point, they don’t trust the experts at all. We talked to three women who were once opposed to getting immunizations for themselves and their children but eventually changed their minds. They shared their stories in an effort to create a more fruitful national dialogue about the importance of immunizations.

“STUDYING TO BECOME A HEALTH PROFESSIONAL OPENED MY EYES.”

KATIE GLISSON, 28 | JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA

Exposure scientist and new mother

While earning my bachelor’s degree in environmental and public health, I worked at a wellness center where some practitioners would say negative things about “modern medicine” and that vaccines were unnecessary if you ate well, exercised, and took great care of yourself. One of them referred me to a website with a lot of antivaccine information. After reading it and articles it linked to, I, too, began to believe the conspiracy theories that said the shots could make you sick, drugmakers were getting rich off “worthless” protection from “minor diseases,” and pro-vaccine research was rigged by Big Pharma.