If you’ve been around here a hot minute you’ll know that I am a FAN of the kiddos. But what you might not know is that I am a BIGGER fan of vaccines.
Because I’m a fan of vaccines and kids; I spend a lot of my time participating with Shot@Life. I’m a Shot@Life Champion! And as a Champion, I get to talk to people and politicians (they’re people too) about the importance of vaccines. To be sure, many people in America get or have access to the vaccines they need and that’s great. What’s not great, is that in developing countries, many children don’t get the vaccines they need. And that fact, makes me incredibly SAD.
As a Shot@Life Champion you may have seen me tweet #vaccineswork or you may have heard me wax poetic about the ill effects of #diarrhea on sick babies caused by the rotavirus. These children and the parents who love them are just like you and me. Except we live in a place where we have access to adequate healthcare and vaccines.
Around the world, a child dies every 20 seconds from a vaccine-preventable disease. Although these children in other countries are thousands of miles away, the conditions they face can cross our borders with astonishing speed. And they have. Remember measles?
We will undoubtedly be talking domestically about approaches to vaccination for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, here’s what we all agree on: we all want healthy babies to grow into healthy kids. We sometimes forget that helping children for whom access to a health clinic, wellness check, or cartoon band aids is a luxury. Vaccines provide the simple reassurance of a chance to live.
During this election season, (if you’re in PA it’s TODAY) I encourage you not to look the other way on this one. Tell your member of Congress that funding for global vaccine programs matter. We all have a stake in the outcome.
Give a kid a Shot @ reading books!