Immunizations: Tracey Clark Gives a Shot for a Shot

by Mom It Forward on April 30th, 2012 | 1 Comment »

The power of social media is presence.The possibilities of making a difference in the world through social media is through awareness, don't you agree? And hopefully that awareness is powerful enough to drive real-world action. In the case of fighting childhood deaths caused by easily-preventable diseases, real-world action is definitely needed. It's one of those things for which there exists a simple solution—get more kids immunized—and all that's needed is for more people to be aware of the need and to take simple actions to help address that need. Tracey Clark is one woman who is using the power of social media, this week, to make a difference, with her Shot 4 Shot initiative.

Along with Kristen Doyle of DineandDish, Tracey encourages us to connect coffee mugs with mug shots of ourselves with shots for others. To participate in Shot 4 Shot (#Shot4Shot), she and Kristen ask that you, first, share a shot of you getting your morning shot of coffee on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and/or your blog. Then, you're encouraged to contemplate donating the amount of cash you saved on your coffee by drinking it at home, rather than at a coffee house, to Shot@Life. Shot@Life is a United Nations Foundation program that enables vaccinations against pneumonia, diarrhea, measles and polio in India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Indonesia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, China, Uganda, Chad and Kenya.

The reality is that seventy-five percent of unvaccinated children live in just those 10 countries. Pneumonia and diarrhea are the two biggest killers of children under five, and account for more than one-third of childhood deaths worldwide. As Shot4Life says: "Germs don’t need a passport. With so many children around the world unvaccinated, outbreaks of diseases such as measles can occur. Expanding access to vaccines strengthens our ability to fight disease globally and keep our families healthy here at home."

According to Tracey, to support Shot@Life, you can directly donate well-needed funds for the vaccines that can protect children. Only $20 immunizes a child for life from pneumonia, diarrhea, polio, and measles. You can sign the pledge of support. And you can “like” Shot@Life on Facebook. In addition to encouraging donations, Tracey hosted a Twitter party on the issue and has partnered with various brands to offer incentives for getting involved. Everyone who shares a #Shot4Shot image today gets a photo journal. Later today, she and Kristen will randomly choose six shots from among the participants' to receive gifts like a spot in a photo workshop, a camera bag, or a coffee brewer from their #Shot4Shot brand supporters.

Says Tracey about why she supports the cause of immunization awareness: "The United Nations' message spoke to my mother-heart: help kids everywhere reach their milestones, grow, thrive, and get a shot at the healthy life they deserve. The statistics of child mortality are so eye-opening and heart-wrenching. A child dies every 20 seconds from a preventable disease. The problem is the mothers of these kids don’t have access to what's needed."

"I have been motivated even more," she adds, "because my daughter, a freshman in high school, is involved in a Model United Nations program at her school. For the first time, issues pertaining to global health have been the topic of family conversations and I was very excited to get my daughter involved in a campaign that was providing solutions for the topics that she was studying in class."

We applaud Tracey and Kristen for using the power of social media in a unique way to drive action. You can read more about Tracey and the Shot4Shot Initiative at at TraceyClark.com, ShutterSisters.com, on her Facebook page, or on her daughters' Teens4Vaccines Facebook page.