You may know Kristen Bell from her role as Veronica Mars, or more recently, as the voice of Anna in Frozen, but Kristen is also becoming well-known as the latest celebrity to publicly announce her pro-vaccine stance.
In a recent interview, Kristen said that she and her husband, actor Dax Shepherd, insisted that all friends and family be up-to-date on vaccines, like those against pertussis, before holding their infant daughter. “When Lincoln was born, the whooping cough epidemic was growing, and before she was 2 months old, we simply said [to friends], ‘You have to get a whooping cough vaccination if you are going to hold our baby.”
Kristen became a vaccine advocate when she first became a mom in 2013. Initially, she didn’t think there was a need to vaccinate her daughter since she thought that many of those diseases didn’t exist any more. However, after researching the topic, she came to the realization that vaccines not only protect the person getting vaccinated, but they also protect those around them who are not able to get vaccinated through herd or “community immunity.”
https://twitter.com/IMKristenBell/status/546482387027103744
Kristen has since been outspoken on social media, posting pro-vaccine information. More recently, she took to social media to share the story of a little girl with cancer who was exposed to measles while at a hospital.
NFID applauds Kristen for publicly taking a strong stand about protecting children and the community at-large through vaccination. As a tribute to her pro-vaccine stance and her love of sloths, enjoy this meme created in her honor:
Learn more about what vaccines your family and friends may need to help protect newborns and others unable to get vaccinated at www.family-vaccines.org and www.nfid.org.
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