This post isn’t like most of my other work. Typically I’m writing about something deeply personal and reflective.

Not that this one isn’t personal, because it is. It matters to me for several reasons.

I’m sick of political narratives being pushed onto our society.

The spread of misinformation.

The fact that this crap is starting to outweigh decades of scientific research in public health.

That should concern all of us, regardless of our politics.

The question of whether vaccines cause autism has been studied for decades by researchers across the world. Hundreds of studies, involving millions of people, have consistently failed to find evidence that vaccines cause autism. In my opinion, it’s unethical to spin a narrative stating otherwise simply because it’s politically convenient.

Science and research-based evidence aren’t supposed to change with an administration.

As a nurse, I can’t continue watching confidence in decades of evidence erode without saying something. I’m frustrated. I’m heartbroken.

Because not only do I care for the people affected by these decisions, I am one of them.

I have ADHD and autism. And I am so SICK of autism being treated like it’s something that needs to be cured. I love the way my brain works. It has shaped who I am, and I wouldn’t change that for anything, even if it comes with challenges.

I also have Type 1 diabetes and other chronic health conditions that affect how my body functions. My mom lives with common variable immunodeficiency and depends on weekly immunoglobulin infusions to help her immune system do what it can’t do on its own. And now I have lab results that have prompted my doctor to closely monitor my immune system.

When we undermine public confidence in well-established science, there are real consequences.

Vaccination rates decline.

Diseases we had largely brought under control and, in some cases, even eliminated from the United States, return.

I find it insulting, honestly, that we take that progress for granted.

Children used to die from measles because vaccines didn’t exist. People died from smallpox. Polio is making a comeback.

And you know who’s most affected?

It’s often not the people who choose not to vaccinate themselves or their children.

It’s those who can’t protect themselves.

They all depend on herd immunity.

Yes, research should be questioned. In fact, that’s the point of the scientific method: ask a question, form a hypothesis, test it, and follow the evidence wherever it leads.

But rejecting the overwhelming weight of evidence because it doesn’t support your preferred narrative is unacceptable.

Politics should never rewrite scientific consensus.

When we ignore decades of evidence, preventable diseases return, and people become severely ill. Some die.

We’re moving backward.

And it’s the most vulnerable among us who pay the price.

I wish people would open their eyes.

Our communities, our loved ones, deserve better than that.

Buy me a boba tea

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