A former anti-vax mom is opening up about why she decided to immunize her children.
Kristina Kruzan, from Seabeck, Washington, pushed against vaccinating her three kids for 15 years, believing that she couldn't trust them.
However, she said her views changed when she met a naturopathic pediatric practitioner - someone who focuses on using natural remedies to help the body heal itself but also believes in vaccines
Kruzan said he spent time answering all of her questions and explaining that shots didn't just protect her kids, but those who were too vulnerable to be vaccinated, reported TIME.
After speaking with him for a year, all of her children were caught up with their shots.
Doctors told TIME that we often yell and scream at those who are vaccine hesitant and that the way to change their minds is to take the time to build relationships with them and ease their concerns.
Mother-of-three Kristina Kruzan (left and right), from Seabeck, Washington, did not vaccinate her children for 15 years. She said doctors couldn't tell her what was in the vaccines, which made her distrustful
Five years ago, she met a naturopathic pediatric practitioner - someone who focuses on using natural remedies to help the body heal itself. He spent a year answering her questions and convincing her that vaccines didn't just protect her children but also those around them
Kruxan, who is a doula, said she began doing research on the internet about vaccines when her eldest son was three years old.
She couldn't get a clear understanding of the risks and benefits of vaccines and, when she went to her pediatricians, they didn't seem to have any more answers.
'You want me to poke a needle in my baby's skin, put chemicals in them and you can't even tell me what it's made of?' she told TIME of her thoughts back then.
Five years ago, she met Dr Elias Kass, a naturopathic pediatric primary care provider, at a conferences for midwives.
She told TIME that Dr Kass was the first medical professional who didn't seem to annoyed by her questions.
Rather, he took the time to build a relationship with her and explain how vaccines didn't just protect her children but also vulnerable people around them.
Less than one percent of children under age two have not received any vaccinations, but public health officials have warned that inoculations not only protect individuals but the community as a whole in what is known as 'herd immunity'.
In 1995, gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield published a study in The Lancet showing children who had been vaccinated against measles, mumps rubella (MMR) were more likely to have bowel disease and autism.
He speculated that being injected with a 'dead' form of the measles virus via vaccination causes disruption to intestinal tissue, leading to both of the disorders.
At the time, Wakefield had a patent for single measles, mumps and rubella vaccines, and was therefore accused of having a conflict of interest.
Nonetheless, MMR vaccination rates in the US and the UK plummeted, until, in 2004, the then-editor of The Lancet Dr Richard Horton described Wakefield's research as 'fundamentally flawed', adding he was paid by attorneys seeking lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers.
The Lancet formally retracted Wakefield's research paper in 2010.
Three months later, the General Medical Council banned
