**Names marked with an asterisk (*) have been changed for the privacy of individuals and their families**
When my oldest son, Brendon* was about two months old, he developed an infection with a severe wheezing cough that left even the on-call pediatrician concerned because of his general lack of responsiveness. After realizing that Brendon* had not been inoculated against whooping cough, the pediatrician instantly sent him over to Children’s Hospital to be tested, but as I frantically researched through the night while waiting for the results, we learned that whooping cough usually killed around day ten, while results would not become available until around day fourteen! I was distraught, especially considering we had just made the decision not the vaccinate against pertussis (whooping cough). Knowing that my uncle died from polio, we had previously decided to move forward with vaccinating our children- just on a delayed schedule- but we decided against the whooping cough vaccine because the immunization had proven itself deadly on my father’s side of the family and almost claimed my brother’s life as well. The new a-cellular pertussis vaccine contained a lower dosage, according to the pediatrician, and thus tended to have significantly less side effects, but we were nervous to take the risk. Shortly after this decision, my little newborn was being tested for whooping cough, and it carried just shy of a 100% death rate in children under six months. I was an emotional wreck for days, fearing we could lose our little boy.
Within a few days, however, Brendon* started acting more like himself, and shortly after that, we received the negative results back from Children’s hospital! Though we were beyond grateful that God had saved his little life, vaccines became an even weightier topic in our home. Unfortunately, when it came to our Zambia trip, the list of recommended vaccinations appeared endless. To make it worse, Zambian officials required a certification of immunization against yellow fever, a live-vaccine known for knocking trained military-men off their feet, before permitting travelers into the country. Though we worried for our children, we had no idea that this one vaccine would become a predicament unto itself.
Required… Or Not?
In Zambia, yellow fever had only been eradicated for several years and the Zambian embassy clearly stated, “Since 1st October 2011, all travelers to and from Zambia are required to be in possession of either a Yellow Fever Certificate or a valid wavier certificate.” With this in mind, we gathered our immunization records from out-of-state, obtained updated records for our children, and called the health department to gather precise information about immunization requirements and costs for our upcoming trip. To our dismay, the nurses informed us that they could not administer the yellow-fever vaccine to us because the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website stated the vaccine was not recommended for American traveler’s to Zambia! No matter what information we gave from the Zambian embassy, their hands were tied. Furthermore, even if they could approve the vaccine and give us the yellow-fever vaccination certificate required to enter Zambia, they could not administer it to Annabelle* because she was less than nine months, creating a new conflict for administering my yellow-fever immunization because it was “counter-indicated” for breastfeeding mothers. Combine that with learning that the total vaccinations costs amounted to several thousand dollars and it was beyond our ability. We could only rest in knowing that God alone was able to work out the details and get us to Zambia in a few short months.
Should Our Children Stay?
The Zambian embassy confirmed over the phone that they did, in fact, require the yellow-fever vaccination certificate for Americans to enter into the country, but there was still nothing more we could do until the appointment at the health department. Should the health department decide to follow the CDC website according to protocol, our options would be limited to canceling the trip or risking someone stopping us at the border and possibly offering our family that vaccine unofficially at inflated prices. To say the least, receiving the vaccines through the health department before departure was the significantly better option. We decided to pray and allow God to work miraculously in the days leading up to our appointment, while we focused in on the safety of me and Annabelle* even receiving the vaccination because of breastfeeding.
Would it not be better to wean Annabelle* before her first birthday so we could leave our children safely behind with trusted friends? On the other hand, would it be detrimental to be away from our separation-anxiety-prone children for two whole weeks? And how would we ever know exactly what we needed to have prepared for the field if our children stayed back in the states? We grappled with the idea for a while, but finally decided, again, to move forward, knowing that the very God who called us to go to Zambia in a few years was the same one we needed to entrust with our children for the upcoming trip, and the same one who already knew the answers.
In this series I share my thoughts and opinions concerning these ministers and the events which led to my departure. Click here to continue reading: “Blindsided: Medical Mazes (Part Two)” or click on the link below.
For a list of the complete series, click here.
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