Erica Mena, 32, appeared to be outnumbered on this argument. The Love & Hip Hop: New York star doesn’t have plans to vaccinate the baby girl she is expecting with husband Safaree Samuels, much to the frustration of her 11-year-old son King Conde and fans! King is now trying to change his mom’s anti-vax stance, as seen in one of their text conversations shared to Erica’s Instagram Story, which The Blast screengrabbed on Nov. 7. “Just admit youre [sic] wrong and give up,” King texted his mom, and Erica responded to the son whom she shares with ex Raul Conde, “Don’t talk to your mother like this is disrespectful and not gonna be tolerated.”
King, fearful for his little sister’s health, wouldn’t back down on this medical issue. “Oh, I’m sorry for wanting my baby sister to live as healthy as possible. While youre [sic] convinced ignoring what right for her is fine? Im [sic] sorry for possibly being disrespectful but im [sic] only being that way because im [sic] passionate about this,” King replied, but added an “I love you.”
Although they disagree, Erica was touched by her son’s concern. “Look at you being a great big brother. I can’t for her to get here so you can defend her with all your might,” Erica replied. Over the screenshot of their texts, Erica wrote for her 4.6 million Instagram fans, “My son King is not letting up on his reasons why we should vaccinate the baby.”
Likewise, fans are also not letting up on reasons Erica should seriously reconsider her plans to not vaccinate her daughter. “It’s sad that the 11 year old has to fight to do the right thing for his baby sister,” one fan commented on Erica’s Instagram page, according to The Blast, while the outlet saw another follower disheartened to see a young boy fighting for his sister’s health: “How sad is it that your 11 year old has more sense then you do?”
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Other fans listed the specific reasons why vaccinations are crucial. “Just pray the kid doesn’t get measles encephalitis, or god-forbid, Tetanus,” a follower commented, per The Blast, while a fourth fan tried to persuade Erica with a mini essay: “I vaccinate my child? Why? Because I don’t want my kid to die, or contract mumps and never have the option of having children of his own. Vaccines are not the cause of autism. That myth was debunked years ago, but people trying to find reasons to not vaccinate their kids have brought it back like there’s truth to it. But whatever you believe, I think the question should be this? Would I rather have a child who’s alive, and who might have autism, or would I rather be the parent to a child who died from an infection disease that could’ve been prevented?”
Vaccines help prevent diseases like “polio, measles, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), rubella (German measles), mumps, tetanus, rotavirus and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib),” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It’s especially important for children to receive these shots — if “an unvaccinated child is exposed to a disease germ, the child’s body may not be strong enough to fight the disease,” the CDC points out. It’s not a coincidence that populations are no longer plagued by smallpox!