Anti-Vaxxer Changes Her Mind Due To The Coronavirus Pandemic

The world's best scientists are racing against the clock to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus.

But there is a section of the community that would probably refuse to accept the vaccine if and when it becomes available.

Anti-vaxxers have long campaigned against getting the jab for measles, mumps, rubella, the flu and many others.

Despite mountains of evidence to say they're safe an the most effective way of preventing unnecessary death or illness, anti-vaxxers still avoid getting immunised.

PA

But it seems like a pandemic that has killed nearly 170,000 people in a few months has been enough to change some people's minds.

One woman has revealed she's turned her back on the anti-vaxx movement because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Haley Searcy, 26, from Florida, was very deep down the anti-vaxx rabbit hole before Covid-19 broke out and refused to have her daughter immunised after she was born last year.

She developed her stance from reading things online and quickly believed that vaccines weren't safe - despite decades of credible, academically supported science that says the contrary.

PA

She told CNN: "I was just as scared of vaccines as I was of the diseases they protect against."

She 'begrudgingly' agreed to have her daughter vaccinated after advice from her paediatrician, however she still took the view that most vaccines are dangerous.

But as the coronavirus started sweeping across the planet, Haley realised that a vaccine is necessary.

She said: "Since Covid-19, I've seen firsthand what these diseases can do when they're not being fought with vaccines.

"My mother has a lung disease, so if she gets Covid-19 there is no fighting it. I learned as much as I could to speak out against misinformation in the hopes that I could convince more people to stay home and follow social distancing so that she won't get sick.

"So many lives are at stake, including people I care about who are very vulnerable.

Haley says her research into the way vaccines are put together made her realise 'just how rigorous trials are' before they are released to the public.

Ms Searcy added: "I wasn't actively looking for vaccine information but the more I learned, the more I realised it would help and the easier it became to recognise the lack of science in anti-vaxx arguments."

Let's hope others come to the same conclusion and we can get herd immunity up around the globe.

Topics: News, Coronavirus

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie