Jimmy Kimmel has created a gag children’s book aimed at kids whose parents won’t let them get vaccinated. It’s both innocently cheerful and incredibly, horrifically depressing.
Entitled Dot Got a Shot, the brightly illustrated book follows the titular Dot as she misses out on playtime with her friends due to her parents’ anti-vaccination stance.
“It was a warm summer day but Dot was dejected,” read Kimmel. “Her mother refused to get her injected.”
Vaccination rates in the U.S. have stalled, as many in the country turn their back on science and provable results in favour of rumours and getting used to over 1,000 COVID-19 deaths per day. Less than 60 percent of people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated — a phenomenally embarrassing statistic. Contributing to these poor numbers are fearful vaccine-skeptical parents, many of whom refuse to have their children vaccinated against COVID-19 despite it having infected a total of 6,625,847 U.S. children as of last week.
Fortunately Dot Got a Shot ends more happily than it could have, with Dot doing some research and educating her parents until they feel confident and comfortable enough to let her get vaccinated — as well as get the shot themselves.
“Her family’s protected from COVID, that’s that,” Kimmel concluded. “Next up, convince them the Earth is not flat.”
It’s true that educating your loved ones can go a long way in helping them shake off dangerous and misleading anti-vaxx rhetoric, as well as keeping them safe. However it’s also terribly depressing that we’re at a point where children and teenagers are being burdened with the responsibility of advocating for themselves and teaching and protecting their parents. There’s no doubt there will be kids who carry undeserved guilt for not being able to change their caregivers’ minds.
Kimmel’s book appears to be a unique one-off item though, so it’s unlikely that it will find its way into impressionable youngsters’ hands.
