Giving Every Child a Shot at Life

Making the decision to immunize your child can be scary. Here’s why the vice president of global partnerships for the United Nations Foundation—a new mom herself—did.

But change is possible. Measles deaths have decreased 85 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, thanks to the global partnership of the Measles Initiative, a joint effort of the UN Foundation, the American Red Cross (redcross.org), the CDC, UNICEF, and WHO. In early 2012, India proudly announced that it had had no new polio cases during the previous year.

After her shots, my tiny girl got a fever for two days. As her protective mom, I hated to see her feeling discomfort. I also had a healthy set of guilt for putting her through this short-term pain. However, two tough days is well worth a lifetime of protection and the opportunity to grow up healthy and strong—a right that should belong to every child.

I gave my daughter a shot at life, and I hope you might give others the same. Join Real Simple and the Shot@Life Campaign, a new UN Foundation initiative aimed at getting Americans to champion vaccines in developing countries.

Learn more about how you can help the United Nation Foundation’s Shot@Life vaccine campaign, and about one woman’s quest to eradicate polio worldwide.