No Shots For Me
By Daphne Nizza Shaw, MD

“Am I going to need a shot?” ask some, with quivering voices.  “No shots today, right?” others ask with a bit more confidence and an aim to persuade. “Doctor, before we talk any more about things, can you just tell me if I’m going to get a shot today?” ask others, needing to take charge and address their primary distracting concern.  To a pediatrician, a day full of check-ups can sound like a chorus of fear-laden and sometimes amazingly creative requests for shot-exemption.  And who can blame the kids?  After all, no one actually likes shots, even those of us who most understand their very important role in keeping people healthy!

Daphne Nizza Shaw is a pediatrician who a few years ago—while her baby boy was napping—picked up a pen and paper just for fun and wrote a little poem about a girl named Susannah Lee awaiting her vaccines at the doctor’s office.  Dr. Shaw based the poem on the very familiar theme of children’s dread of getting shots, as well as their desire to do anything possible to NOT have to get them.  In the poem, Susannah Lee, who is both precocious and imaginative, contrives an elaborate proposal to help the doctor fix up her office in return for the promise of no vaccines.

The poem remained stashed away until Dr. Shaw decided that she wanted to show it to her patients as a playful way of addressing their fear of shots.  Yet, as she thought about things further and heard the encouragement of several family members (especially her little sister!) and friends, she decided to draw pictures to go along with the rhymes.  Over time, the poem evolved into a hard-back book, No Shots for Me.

Enjoy!  The hope is that this book will serve as a starting point for a discussion of vaccines and help make the difference between a dreaded and nightmarish visit to the doctor and one that’s really not so bad at all.