Vaccines and vaccination—they've become one of the hottest topics of public discourse. Indeed, the Oxford Languages 2021 Word of the Year is Vax. As their pun-filled news release notes, "more than any other word, 'vax' has injected itself into the bloodstream of the English language in 2021." With regulatory approval of a COVID vaccine for kids ages 5–11, COVID boosters for adults 65 and older and those at a higher risk for COVID, and the World Health Organization recommending widespread use of a long-awaited malaria vaccine for children, there is much vaccine progress and science to celebrate and understand. In this episode, we check in with Melody Butler, BSN, RN, CIC, the Founder and Executive Director of Nurses Who Vaccinate, to get an update on how she and nurses around the world are responding, mobilizing, and innovating our vaccination efforts, messaging, and communication strategies. This conversation is particularly relevant at a time when an explosion of misinformation is fueling vaccine hesitancy and children and adults around the world need to catch up on all their life-saving vaccinations.

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