HEALTHY YOU.
HEALTHY US.
HEALTHY KITSAP!
TRUSTED VOICES
Local health professionals trust and support immunization as a vital tool for keeping us healthy. Scroll down to see stories from Kitsap healthcare providers and community leaders and find materials you can share. Have questions or concerns about vaccines that you want to discuss? Reach out to your healthcare provider or give our team a call at 360-728-2007.
Jared Moravec
Fire Chief, Bainbridge Island
Why is it important to you to stay up to date on immunizations?
Immunizations help my body to be better prepared to respond to certain illnesses. As a first responder, I want to make sure that I keep myself healthy and protect those around me.
Why are immunizations important to your work and our community?
Keeping first responders healthy helps to protect you and us during emergency responses. Immunizations also help to keep the community healthier.
What would you say to someone who was unsure about getting vaccinated?
Immunizations can save your life and the lives of others. If you are unsure about getting vaccinated, be sure to talk to your healthcare provider to get trusted information.
Dr. Niran Al-Agba
PEDIATRICIAN, SILVERDALE
Why is it important to you to stay up to date on immunizations?
I work on the front line of medicine, seeing sick patients every day who suffer from many infections, whether viral or bacterial. I stay caught up on immunizations to protect myself, my family, and most importantly, my patients.
Why are immunizations important to your work and our community?
Vaccinations save lives. They are important because they are the single most important medical advance made during the last century which prolongs the lives of children.
What would you say to someone who was unsure about getting vaccinated?
Immunizations are safe and effective. The vaccines I am giving to your child are the exact same ones I have given to my own children.
Sharon Blancaflor, RN, BSN
REGISTERED NURSE, SILVERDALE
Why is it important to you to stay up to date on immunizations?
Staying up to date with my routine vaccinations is important to me as a registered nurse and mother in order to stay safe, protected, and healthy. With the cost of living so high, I honestly can’t afford being sick in the hospital and having to miss work or time away from my daughter. I believe vaccines not only save lives but also save precious time with our loved ones.
Why are immunizations important to your work and our community?
Routine immunizations are very important because if we protect ourselves, we then can help protect others and our community as a whole.
What would you say to someone who was unsure about getting vaccinated?
I believe everyone has a right to decide if they want to protect themselves by staying up to date with immunizations. As a registered nurse, I feel it is my duty to not only make sure my patients are well informed and educated on how safe and effective vaccines are but also my friends and family. If anyone I care for has any doubts on vaccines, I would tell them that I personally trust vaccines and provide links from reliable resources such as the CDC to help them make a well-informed decision.
Sunny Lang, RN
SCHOOL NURSE, KINGSTON
Why is it important to you to stay up to date on immunizations?
As a school nurse, I’m responsible for safeguarding the health of students and that starts with making sure I’m as healthy as I can be. I stay up to date on routine immunizations to protect myself and people around me from preventable and potentially life-threatening diseases.
Why are immunizations important to your work and our community?
Diseases can spread easily in group settings like schools, putting children at a higher risk for getting sick. By getting vaccinated, we can help protect ourselves, each other, and our entire school community.
What would you say to someone who was unsure about getting vaccinated?
Immunizations have been studied extensively and possible adverse effects are reported and tracked to ensure they continue to be safe and effective. The health risks of not being vaccinated are far greater than possible side effects. These risks are not only affecting you but also those in your family and community.
Dr. David Weiss
Associate Chief Medical Officer, Silverdale
Why is it important to you to stay up to date on immunizations?
For me personally, my body needs all the help it can get. There is never a good time to be sick and I want to reduce the chance that I spread an infectious disease to my family, friends or coworkers.
Prior to working in hospitals, I spent a long time in the U.S. Navy, traveling to many lesser-developed countries that did not benefit from robust childhood vaccination programs. Seeing a child with a medical condition that could have been prevented by a safe vaccine is a heartbreaking experience and makes you grateful that the United States has the best vaccines available.
Why are immunizations important to your work and our community?
As a healthcare leader, the most important work I do is working face-to-face with nurses and medical staff. It's crucial that I'm healthy and free of any contagious diseases that could negatively impact other workers or patients. Likewise, I hope that our patients are able to prevent as many health challenges as possible through healthy actions like immunizations.
What would you say to someone who was unsure about getting vaccinated?
If you are unsure about the benefits and side effects of a vaccine, take the time to ask your physician or provider. Unfortunately, there is still a great deal of misinformation about vaccines out there.
Immunizations may save you from severe illness, but they also protect those you love who are more vulnerable. Whether it’s my older relatives or my neighbor’s newborn, immunizations keep everyone from exposing those who are at risk from life-threatening diseases.
Sherry Whitley, PharmD
Pharmacist, Bremerton
Why is it important to you to stay up to date on immunizations?
It is important to stay up to date on routine immunizations to help protect those who cannot protect themselves. Small children, people with lowered immune systems, and/or those with specific allergies may be unable to get vaccinated, and we can help provide some protection by getting immunized ourselves.
Staying up to date on routine immunizations helps reduce the risk that I will become sick myself and be unable to work or see those important to me.
Why are immunizations important to your work and our community?
Pharmacists are an accessible and trustworthy source of information for patients. In the past few years there have been a lot of updates to the adult immunization schedule. Helping patients and providers navigate and understand these changes is important to me. Not everyone has the ability to see their medical provider on a regular basis and often see their pharmacist monthly.
Pharmacists are accessible and able to provide information and immunizations to help keep our community protected.
What would you say to someone who was unsure about getting vaccinated?
I make vaccine recommendations to my friends and family after I learn about them and receive the vaccines myself. Discussing my own experience with vaccines and sharing the information I have learned helps them be confident in their decision to get immunized.
As an aunt to small children, it is important for me to help protect them by receiving vaccinations myself and providing recommendations of vaccines those around them should receive as well.
Content you can share
Posters
11x17 posters you can download and print. Interested in receiving printed posters for your organization? Contact pio@kitsappublichealth.org
Barbara Hoffman, DNP, RN, CDE
Tribal Public Health Manager, Suquamish
Why is it important to you to stay up to date on immunizations?
I believe whole-heartedly that it is better to prevent illness rather than treat it. Immunizations are just as important as eating healthfully, being physically active or managing stress in helping to prevent disease. I stay up to date so that I can be as healthy as possible.
Why are immunizations important to your work and our community?
Working with tribal members we are very focused on prevention and protecting our littles and our elders. We know that outcomes for vaccine preventable diseases are worse in tribal populations, and we need to emphasize the importance of preventing them at every opportunity.
What would you say to someone who was unsure about getting vaccinated?
I let them know I stay updated, answer questions and give written info if requested. I let them know the potential consequences of a decision not to vaccinate. I try to counter the false information that circulates. I also am aware this can be a highly personal decision and respect their right to make it.
The Healthy Kitsap campaign was created by Kitsap Public Health District in 2023 to build awareness of the importance of immunization and encourage Kitsap County residents to stay up to date on routine vaccinations.
We all want to make informed healthcare decisions based on information and insights we can trust. Our campaign centers on elevating the voices of diverse local healthcare providers and community leaders who generously volunteered to support this effort. We will also share simple, easy-to-use immunization information and provide links to in-depth resources. You can click here (PDF) to see all the places campaign messages are being shared.
If you have any questions or suggestions or are interested in participating in this campaign, please contact pio@kitsappublichealth.org or 360-728-2330.