American Nurses Association’s (ANA) Immunity Award

"One registered nurse takes her message about the importance of immunization directly to parents of low-income and immigrant students at urban elementary schools. Another registered nurse takes to social media outlets to dispel misperceptions about vaccinations and encourage immunization. Both Ann Andreoni and Melody Butler earned the American Nurses Association’s (ANA) Immunity Award for their initiatives to raise immunization rates and educate the public about the benefits of protection against vaccine-preventable diseases."

     "Butler, BSN, RN, a pediatric nurse at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, N.Y., educates parents of her patients about vaccinations and seeks to ensure that each patient is up to date on them. She is designing a workshop for her pediatric unit colleagues on vaccination issues. She does even more to promote immunization and counter immunization myths outside the hospital.


     Butler created a Facebook page entitled, "Nurses Who Vaccinate," in response to a pre-existing page, "Nurses Who Don’t Vaccinate," to provide visitors current evidence-based information on immunization and its benefits. She also participates in several other online activities that encourage immunization, including Every Child by Two’s "Vaccinate Your Baby" online promotion. She often responds to online parenting forums that present misinformation about vaccines. Her Internet information initiatives attracted the attention of The Wall Street Journal, which quoted her in a story about protecting infant children from pertussis, or whooping cough, a highly contagious bacterial infection of the upper respiratory system."

Official Press Release Nurses Demonstrating Innovation in Promoting Vaccination

ANA Immunize http://anaimmunize.org/


Nurses Who Vaccinate would like to thank Every Child by Two & Vaccinate Your Baby for the Immunity Award nomination.