Cherie Romney discusses her family's vaccine injuries with RFK Jr. Cherie's son Everest Romney, 17,  received the vaccine April 21 and began experiencing neck pain, fever and severe headaches one day later. His mother said her son’s pediatrician initially dismissed the symptoms as a pulled neck muscle. 

After more than a week of symptoms and being unable to freely move his neck, the family got this diagnosis: two blood clots inside his brain, and one on the outside.

“In a million years, I never expected it,” Romney said. “The worst thing, the worst thing, is to have the doctor come in and say, ‘OK, well, we found two blood clots inside his brain.’ The hardest thing was I let him get that shot. And he was healthy and well before. But you question it, you can’t help but question it when it all goes wrong.”

Romney doesn’t want to discourage parents from letting their kids get the vaccine because she believes each parent must make the decision for their children, but she wished her choice had been a different one.