Amanda Peet Inspires Others to Take a Stand For Vaccines
May 07, 2013

As a mother and blogger, I can’t imagine anything more motivating to my advocacy efforts than to have the opportunity to hear actor, mother and Every Child By Two Ambassador to the Shot@Life campaign Amanda Peet speak about her commitment to vaccines this past weekend.
There have been many times when I have wished to be a celebrity.  Not for the fame and fortune (thought undoubtedly that would be nice), but for the simple fact that celebrity status often affords one the luxury of an audience.  And no doubt, Amanda Peet had an interested audience.  Even if she wasn’t talking about what many would have expected.

In a session entitled Random Acts of Impact: The Power of Giving Back, Amanda, along with four other impressive women panelists, addressed a group of highly influential social media moms and women entrepreneurs at the Mom 2.0 Summit in California on Saturday.  She explained how she uses her celebrity as a platform and is working to bring awareness of the importance of childhood vaccines.  She emphasized how powerful it would be if others would also use their social media platforms to help promote immunizations and the Shot@Life campaign.
Her words were passionate, but what really spoke volumes were her actions.  Amanda talked about how she began working with Every Child by Two on their Vaccinate Your Baby campaign over five years ago.  At the time, Amanda was expecting her first child.  While others were using their celebrity status to question the safety of vaccines, Amanda decided to take her questions directly to the medical experts and look at what the science had to say.  After having her many questions answered and discovering various reputable sources such as the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Every Child By Two, she realized just how important it was for children to receive all their recommended vaccines and she decided she that she wanted to help get the message out to others.
But her efforts didn’t stop there.  As the Vaccinate Your Baby campaign went on to reach more than 500 million people with a message about the importance of timely vaccinations, she realized the critical need to increase access to vaccines for all children – especially those in developing countries who are at the greatest risk for vaccine preventable diseases.  This prompted her to become the Every Child By Two Ambassador to the United Nations Foundation’s Shot@Life campaign and extend her interest in immunizations in order to promote improved global access.
Amanda told the audience about her second daughter’s battle with whooping cough, which she contracted before she was able to complete the vaccination series.  She realized how lucky she was to live in the United States with close access to medical care.  However, the experience only helped highlight the fact that many mothers and children in developing countries, who lack access to live-saving vaccines, are not nearly as fortunate.
Her involvement with the United Nation Foundation has furthered her commitment by making her realize that the world is at a pivotal point in their efforts to eradicate polio.

 “We are this close to eradicating polio. It would be amazing if this could happen in our lifetime,” she said.  “We need to get children the vaccines they need and remember that polio anywhere is a threat to children everywhere. We live in a global community and we are responsible for not only our own children but also our neighbor’s children.”

By using her platform for change, and encouraging others to do the same, Amanda is hoping we can all do our part to raise awareness and make history together.
If you’re inspired to help protect children in developing countries from vaccine-preventable diseases, then be sure to find out more about the Shot@Life campaign.  And keep an eye on those bloggers who attended this Mom 2.0 Summit.  They are an inspirational group of women who are determined to bring about social change. And now, thanks to the work of people like Amanda Peet and organizations like Every Child By Two and Shot@Life – they are poised and ready to make a big difference in their communities and in the world.

During the Mom 2.0 Summit, Amanda Peet was interviewed by CNN/Headline News anchor Kyra Phillips about her work as an immunization ambassador.  We anticipate the interview will air soon and we hope to provide a clip of that interview when it becomes available. 

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