Booster Shot Comics

The rumors are true! We are working on a themed sequel to ! Today we did some recording with the incredibly talented - voice of LUCY THE LUNCHBOX! A huge thank you to Dave, Alex and the rest of the team at who made the session incredibly productive, seamless and fun! I even got to record in the booth for a few narrator lines myself! They’ve worked with some amazing talent here and I tried my best to live up to a “John Goodman” standard! What a day!

www.MySCDstory.org won another award! We are happy to announce that MySCDstory.org received a Gold Award in the website category of the Season 3 DANDA (Design+Aesthetics Awards) program!

www.MySCDstory.org is a digital tool for people considering treatment options for sickle cell disease. We produced this project for the Sickle Cell Disease Gene Therapy Working Group led by Liza-Marie (Liza) Johnson MD, MPH, MSB, HEC-C and Akshay Sharma. Special thanks to the patients and families who gave their time and input throughout the development process.

Read the full press release here-
https://www.boostershotmedia.com/news/myscdstory-awards-press-release-2025-08-18.pdf

MK and Alex started a new monthly Graphic Medicine Monthly Roundup Podcast! Our inaugural episode features an interview with cartoonist and Tom Hart from The Sequential Artists Workshop ( https://www.facebook.com/sequentialartistsworkshop/ ) who will be co-hosting the SAW+Graphic Medicine Online Summit which starts tonight! The 2025 GMIC Awards will be announced tomorrow! Click below for more info!!

Graphic Medicine Podcast Monthly Roundup | Graphic Medicine Alex Thomas & MK Czerwiec host a new feature on the GM Podcast: Monthly Roundup! For our inaugural episode we are joined by SAW’s Tom Hart. Shownotes: Info about the Graphic Medicine Summit here. Schedule and individual session registrations available at that link. You can directly register for al...

Vaccine ingredients (such as aluminum) have long been a point of concern with those unsure or skeptical about vaccines.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (the US secretary of Health and Human Services) has repeatedly expressed concerns about the presence of aluminum in vaccines, claiming it's responsible for a range of childhood illnesses, including food allergies, autism, and depression, stating that it is "extremely neurotoxic".

In a 2021 interview, Kennedy stated, "You wonder why a whole generation of children is allergic to stuff. It's because we're inducing allergies, pumping them full of aluminum".

As a pediatric allergist/immunologist, I can confidently tell you he's dead wrong. But don't just take my word for it- we have data we can rely on.

This week a study of MORE THAN A MILLION people was published that showed there was NO LINK found in aluminum in vaccines and risk of more than 50 chronic conditions (including allergies, asthma, autism and autoimmune disease). https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/ANNALS-25-00997

Here is a video we made which explains WHY aluminum is such an important component of some vaccines and why it is completely harmless. In our immunization analogy, the vaccine is the immune system coach and the aluminum is like a celebrity trainer that comes in to really focus the training.

Aluminum is one of the most common elements in the natural world. Also there's more than twice the amount of aluminum in the breast milk (and ten times the amount in the formula) a baby drinks in the first 6 months of life than in all the vaccines they will receive in that time.

I know it can be incredibly confusing when we can't rely on our elected (and appointed) officials to tell us the truth. Thankfully we have science on our side to shed the light. The goal of these videos is to make this wealth of data more understandable for everyone.

https://youtu.be/u2cQVHxA5hk

Why Is There ALUMINUM In Some Vaccines? (Helping Families Understand Childhood Immunizations) Many parents seeking vaccine information have questions about vaccine safety. There is a lot of concern and confusion about some ingredients in vaccines. ...

This is one of my favorites from our series about vaccines we made with Boost Oregon! Here we get into the nitty gritty about how vaccines work compared to antibiotics (flashing back to a time before vaccines) and why it is so freaking amazing!

A time of pediatric wards filled of kids with bacterial meningitis was not that long ago and we’re headed in that direction if we don’t understand/respect the years of scientific evidence behind vaccines. Let’s not be a victim of our own success.

Yes, unvaccinated children can survive even serious infections, but at what cost? With a well-trained immune system, a potentially grueling fight, painful symptoms and antibiotics that may cause additional side effects can all be avoided. A vaccinated immune system fights off these infections without you even knowing a fight had occurred!

How Do Vaccines Work? (Helping Families Understand Childhood Immunizations) Many parents seeking vaccine information have questions about vaccine safety. But how do vaccines actually work? A time of pediatric wards filled of kids...

Why so many vaccines?? Another common misconception is that the number of vaccines given to a young child "overwhelm" their immune system and that less should be given.

HHS Secretary RFK Jr has has frequently criticized the number of vaccines in the current schedule compared to when he was a child. He's correct that there are more, but he's very wrong about it being a bad thing. When he was a child, there was no vaccine for meningitis, hepatitis A, mumps, hepatitis B, rotavirus, pneumococcus, measles, influenza, HPV, rubella, or chicken pox. Kids' immune systems were still exposed to all of these pathogens, and there was much more illness (and morbidity and mortality) associated with those infections. With immunizations, kids' immune systems are safely trained to fight these pathogens..... and they are definitely up to the challenge! So by limiting the number of vaccines, you are not doing the immune system any favors, but giving them less tools to stay robust and healthy.

This video explains why the number of vaccines given are important to protect kids from the many dangerous pathogens around us.

Why So Many Vaccines? (Helping Families Understand Childhood Immunizations) Many parents seeking vaccine information have questions about vaccine safety. A common concern is the number of vaccines that are recommended for children....

One common question I get from the parents of my youngest patients in my allergy/immunology practice is "Why do vaccines need to be given to babies?" In this video made with Boost Oregon, we explain why there is a window of time where vaccines are the most necessary for developing immune systems. Deviating from the recommended timing of vaccines can potentially miss the optimal time to support a child's immune system as their protective maternal antibodies fade away. These expert recommendations existed for a reason, y'all!

Why Are Vaccines Given to Babies? (Helping Families Understand Childhood Immunizations) Many parents seeking vaccine information have questions about vaccine safety. Here we explain why the timing of vaccines important to make sure babies are ...

Are Vaccines Safe? When we made this video with Boost Oregon , the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) was a deliberative, independent panel of experts who made recommendations about vaccines based on their review of the most reliable science, input from physicians, public health officials and the public. Their recommendations determine which vaccines will likely be covered by insurance and if they will be readily available. Sadly, this is no longer the case. Last month, Robert F Kennedy Jr (in his role as secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services) fired the entire panel of 17 experts (pediatricians, immunologists, epidemiologists and other physicians) and replaced them with a panel of 8 (many of whom lack relevant expertise, and many with very public anti-vaccine ideologies).

Without a clear mandate from ACIP regarding certain vaccine recommendations, insurance companies may use this as an excuse to deny coverage. However, as revealed in our previous video (“Who Profits from Vaccines?”), the insurers may realize that covering vaccines may prevent illness that would require much more expensive medication and medical interventions.

This week, several non-partisan health organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics, Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine, American College of Physicians, American Public Health Association, Infectious Disease Society of America filed a lawsuit agains RFK Jr and the Department of Health and Human Services for “unlawful, unilateral vaccine changes.” Some of the complaints include the firing of the entire ACIP panel as well as the removal of COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women without a vote from ACIP (which he announced on twitter).

For such esteemed, apolitical health organizations to take these bold steps is a clear sign of how serious things have gotten. The public trust in and access to immunizations are being actively eroded by the government officials meant to protect these values. It’s like we have a new fire department using gasoline instead of water.

This video is about all of the many steps that are taken to insure vaccine safety and how well the system has worked for decades. Here’s hoping we keep some water in the tanks before the fire gets too out of control.

Are Vaccines Safe? (Helping Families Understand Childhood Immunizations) Many parents seeking vaccine information have questions about vaccine safety. Here we explain the efforts that are taken to make sure vaccines are safe and...

What are vaccines and why are the necessary? In the first video in the series we made with Boost Oregon . Using the metaphor of a coach, we explain how vaccines help train a young immune system to fight off the most dangerous of pathogens efficiently and effectively.

What are Vaccines? (Helping Families Understand Childhood Immunizations) Many parents seeking vaccine information have similar questions. Booster Shot Media worked with Boost Oregon ( a parent-led nonprofit organization) to creat...

So who profits from vaccines? In recent years, the absolute wonder and benefits of childhood vaccinations have been clouded with a lot of misinformation. One common talking point of many vaccine skeptics is that profit motives are dictating why pharmaceutical companies and doctors recommend vaccinations.

Last week in an interview with Tucker Carlson, Robert F. Kennedy Jr (the current US Health and Human Services Secretary) said that "50% of revenues to most pediatricians come from vaccines...Insurance companies pay bonuses to the pediatrician to make sure- if for example that 95% of their clients are fully vaccinated- they get a huge bonus. It could be tens of thousands of dollars. And that's why your pediatrician, if you say 'i wanna go slow on the vaccines' or 'if I wanna have a little different schedule,' your pediatrician will throw you out of his practice. Because you're now jeopardizing that bonus structure."

I trained in pediatrics and am a full-time pediatric allergist. Whether it's my wife, friends, family members or colleagues- I'm surrounded by pediatricians and pediatric specialists. There is no part of RFK Jr's above statement that is true. Pediatrics in the US remains a shockingly underpaid profession for the immensely important role they play in the health of the nation. From reimbursement rates from private insurance to medicaid, to the razor thin margin when it comes to treatments like vaccines- the priority of a pediatrician is to keep their patients (not their "clients" as RFK described them) healthy.

Anyway, we created a series of videos with Boost Oregon (https://www.facebook.com/boostoregon)about childhood vaccines to help explain some of the common questions families had about immunizations. This video goes into detail about the profits that can be generated from vaccinations and how that compares to all of the other medications made by the pharmaceutical industry.

We thought it would be a good time to share a video like this with families (or Health and Human Services Secretaries) who may have questions about who profits from vaccines.

In the days ahead, I'll be posting more of the videos from our series and how they may address some specific issues brought up in the recent (often times frustrating) discourse on childhood immunizations. -Alex

Who Profits From Vaccines? (Helping Families Understand Childhood Immunizations) Many parents seeking vaccine information have questions about vaccine safety. Sometimes parents may think the recommendations for childhood vaccination ar...

Attending Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research Summit and already learning some surprising information! Under-diagnosis means under-prevention!

My SCD Story (https://myscdstory.org/) is a project we’ve been working on for a while (we actually presented an early draft at San Diego Comic-Con last year) and we are happy to finally share it (and the journey of creating it) with you!

As newer potential curative treatments for Sickle Cell Disease (such as Bone Marrow Transplantation and Gene Therapy) are available, there was a need to create better educational materials to explain these treatments in context of other more well established treatments. These treatment decisions made in childhood have potentially lifelong implications, and there are pros and cons with each option.

The project started with 2 full days of in-person meetings with Sickle Cell Disease researchers, clinicians, advocates as well as kids and adults with Sickle Cell Disease along with their families/loved ones. This gave us an opportunity to learn about the nuances of having this disease as well how treatments for SCD (compared to other chronic diseases) had not made as many advances for patients until more recently. From hearing from adults with a life-long history of living with Sickle Cell Disease, to parents grappling with a child’s new diagnosis- it was an honor to hear their stories. And they stuck with us.

After these sessions (and some serious brainstorming) we realized the best way to address the need for better educational interventions for Sickle Cell Disease treatment was to create an interactive digital tool to help patients and their families understand the treatment options available for them (and better understand the long term implications of each of them). We wanted to create a tool that could capture the nuances of the patients’ experience, contain practical information as well as scientific explanations of each treatment option. To do this, we imagined an interactive timeline/story tracking the “different lives” of one child with Sickle Cell Disease depending on the treatment decision she and her family made.

So how do you create a tool that contains multiple layers of information, allow for both linear and non-linear ways of reading it, provide the reader a self-paced, customizable reading experience that encourages continued reuse of the tool? Comics, obviously. :)

After we presented a working draft of the project at SDCC 2024, someone in the audience began asking us some amazingly insightful questions. It was freaking Scott McCloud. We connected with him afterwards and he was gracious enough to look at the full draft and provided us incredibly valuable feedback. The work was dense with so much information and he gave us great advice about simplifying the visual content to better promote ease of use and improve the educational power of the tool. We took his advice to heart and worked to create a cohesive, simplified visual language.

We just found out this week that this project was selected as a winner in the Spring 2025 Digital Health Awards® program. MySCDStory.org received a Gold Award for Web-based Resource/Tool. This competition recognizes the best digital health resources.. Our winning entry was chosen from more than 600 entries judged by a panel of distinguished experts in digital health media. The Health Information Resource CenterSM (HIRC), organizer of the Digital Health Awards, is a national information clearinghouse for professionals who work in consumer health fields. Other well-known HIRC programs include the annual National Health Information AwardsSM (healthawards.com), which annually recognizes the nation’s best consumer health information (in non-digital formats).

Man alive, this was truly an adventure to create and we are so happy with the end result. In an age where AI increasingly has the ability to create educational comics and videos at the click of a button that seem “good enough” at the surface level, we’re striving to push the limits and show that good old human effort (from the patients, families and experts who personally provided us the deep foundation of this project, to the experts who thoughtfully gave us feedback along the way and to the past few years of hard work Gary and I put in) can still produce some pretty awesome things.

A humungous thanks to the Sickle Cell Disease Gene Therapy Working Group led by Dr. Liza-Marie Johnson and Dr. Akshay Sharma, both amazing physicians and researchers who were champions of this project from the start.

Check it out!
https://myscdstory.org/

-Alex