Growing up in the Philippines I saw the real effects of diseases. I’ve seen kids crippled by polio, people in the province get bitten by mosquitoes carrying malaria, and people dying from the flu. Where I grew up it’s a privilege to have healthcare, depending on your economic status. Now that I live in the US and have access to provided healthcare, I choose to make sure that my family and the extended family that I left in the Philippines are immunized.