Anti-vaxxers attack mum over whooping cough warning
A Brisbane mother has become the target of anti-vaccination campaigners after she filmed her son suffering from a whooping cough attack and encouraged parents to vaccinate their children.
Rebecca Harreman's public video on Facebook of her four-month-old son, Austin, struggling to breathe during an attack has been viewed more than 470,000 times and shared more than 18,400 times since she posted it on the weekend.
She has since posted saying she has been attacked in private messages by 'anti-vaxxers' over her pleas for people to have their children vaccinated.
Ms Harreman said Austin is back in hospital from the infection, which he has had for nearly a month.
Her original post begged parents who were unsure about the safety and effectiveness of vaccinations to rethink their stance as they watched the video of Austin struggling.
“I've been on duty for over three weeks having to wake every single time my baby boy coughs for fear he will stop breathing. Every. Single. Time. I cannot and will not pass that duty to anyone else, because I just can't sleep,” Ms Harreman wrote on November 14.
“So for those of you sitting on the fence on whether to vaccinate yourself and your kids or not... maybe this video will convince you.
“This is a GOOD coughing fit in a four-month-old with pertussis, or whooping cough, 23 days after his cough started, which is when it's supposed to be getting past the bad stage. It lasts for up to 100 days, but a simple cold I passed onto him that I caught from being with him in hospital is making him relapse again.
“Now when I say this is good... I mean that's absolutely nothing. Not even long enough to be called a coughing fit. Nothing compared to watching him turn blue from coughing for so long and so much he can't take a single breath.”
Her pleas came as Queensland Health this week issued a whooping cough alert for Brisbane, saying 10 children under five have caught the highly contagious and potentially fatal infection in the past six weeks - more than double the number over the same period last year.
Ms Harreman has since posted that while she has been inundated with messages of support, she has also been attacked in private messages by opponents of vaccination, and has even been reported for nudity on Facebook over a newborn family portrait she used as her profile picture.
Queensland Health has urged people in regular contact with small children to ensure their vaccinations are up to date.
Under the current immunisation schedule babies are given three whooping cough vaccinations at two, four and six months, with boosters at four and eight years.
News break – November 17
