This Mother Faced Online Abuse After Writing About Anti-Vaxxers And Her Sick Son On Facebook

    "At least at the end of the day I tried to do something to prevent this and not sit there and say 'oh well, vaccinations don't work so I'll just sit here and do nothing'".

    An Australian mother has seen her Facebook post about vaccinations and her sick child go hugely viral, but has faced online abuse as a result.

    In the post, Rebecca Harreman writes about the coughing fits her son has been having for 23 days since contracting whooping cough. She describes watching her baby "turn blue from coughing" and struggling to breath, before writing that she does not care about the anti-vaccination claims that have been in the public eye for some time.

    "Every person in this world reacts differently to all types of food, products, and medicines," she writes. "At least at the end of the day I tried to do something to prevent this and not sit there and say 'oh well, vaccinations don't work so I'll just sit here and do nothing'".

    Harreman's post was met mostly with support and praise, with others wishing her child a speedy recovery.

    However, two days after writing about her son, Harreman wrote another Facebook post about the response she had gotten from both allies and anti-vaxxers.

    "Some ant-vaxxers seem to feel they can share and say anything they want, even if it is unreliable," she wrote. "And I'm not allowed to have my say or share my personal experience."

    Today, she returned to Facebook to announce she would be "going private" after being overwhelmed by both positive and negative support.

    BuzzFeed News has contacted Rebecca Harreman for comment.