Nurses Who Vaccinate has a strong presence on all major social media channels and is a valuable resource for healthcare workers and parents alike.
So what prompted this busy nurse, herself a mother of four school-aged kids, to set up the site and become a strong advocate for immunisation? We sat down with Melody to find out.
Melody was not always such a vocal advocate of vaccines. In fact, she had her own concerns about having the flu vaccine during pregnancy a few years ago.
While pregnant women are an important flu immunisation target group, according to the WHO, Melody had come across some misleading information online suggesting otherwise.
It was then that she realised that the public – and health professionals – needed to do more to explain the evidence in favour of immunisation.
There was also a need, she says, to build a community where nurses could find resources and connect with peers.
The project has been a big success, thanks to its evidence-based content and the occasional dose of Melody’s real-world personal experiences.
“I find that being a nurse helps me to be a better mother and being a mother helps me to be a better nurse,” she says.
By helping parents and nurses to take a critical approach to the information they find online, Melody is providing a valuable public service.
