Personal Stories

Whooping cough is on the rise – here’s one mom’s story

Whooping cough is currently surging across the U.S. According to the CDC, whooping cough cases in 2024 are five times greater than in 2023...


“Words Matter, but Actions Matter More” – A Parent Advocate Explains Why She’s A Clinical Trial Participant

Dr. Maurine Neiman is a professor of Biology and Gender, Women’s, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Iowa. She also serves the University...


Changing Minds Starts with a Story: VYF’s SQUAD™ Program

Deaths caused by vaccine-preventable diseases aren’t a thing of the past. It’s an uncomfortable truth, and one we’ve all been challenged to face in...


The Nurse’s Role in Immunization Services

To begin our introductions of the Every Child By Two Scientific Advisory Board, I had the pleasure of interviewing one of our distinguished members...


Our Life Without Emily: Flu, Fear, Guilt and Regret

Our daughter Emily died suddenly and tragically from influenza when she was only 3½-years-old. She died in our bed, in her pajamas, watching cartoons...


Callie Cares Means We Will Never Forget

Callie was considered a miracle baby. It took Katie and Craig Van Tornhout five years and four miscarriages before they finally welcomed their precious daughter Callie into their lives. However,...


Once a Childhood Rite of Passage, Chickenpox is Vaccine Preventable

Most adults recall their experiences with chickenpox with great detail.  I remember that I was visiting my grandparents in Florida and they had planned...


I’m a Pediatrician and I Gave My Daughter Pertussis

While I was pregnant, I spent a whole lot of time researching strollers, but failed to take any time to get a vaccine...


Questioning Whether To Get Your Child the HPV Vaccine? Read This

In June 2006, the first human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine was licensed for use in the U.S.  Rather than celebrate the development of a vaccine...


My Polio Story is an Inconvenient Truth to Those Who Refuse Vaccines

by Judith Shaw Beatty In 1949, the year I was hit by the poliovirus, 42,000 cases of polio were reported in the United States...