Personal Stories

Vaccines are necessary because the diseases they prevent still exist. Although readers may not know someone who has had a vaccine-preventable disease, many families have endured the consequences of these infections. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (US) has collected and continue to collect some of their stories and post them on its website.

Sharing these stories is an important aspect of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s work, because many people are not familiar with vaccine-preventable diseases, and, unfortunately, that means some people do not 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 vaccine than to endure a serious illness.