Immunization Awareness Month: Bel Kelly-Russo Connects Vaccines to Virginia’s Cancer Prevention Story
For Virginia’s first officially recognized Immunization Awareness Month, CACV spotlights Bel Kelly-Russo, MSc, Associate Program Manager with ImmunizeVA, the Commonwealth’s immunization coalition and a flagship program of the Institute for Public Health Innovation. Bel began this work through a research fellowship at Eastern Virginia Medical School focused on vaccine hesitancy. This November, she will celebrate five years with ImmunizeVA, where she helps coordinate provider education, community outreach, and legislative advocacy across the Commonwealth.
Bel is especially proud of ImmunizeVA’s 2025 vaccine literacy initiative, created after the community outreach workgroup chair found that many online searches for children’s books about vaccines led to scientifically questionable or anti-vaccine results. ImmunizeVA reviewed dozens of titles and placed a curated, evidence-based list with the Library of Virginia — “libraries, especially in rural areas, are hubs of public health information,” Bel says — prioritizing counties with the lowest vaccination rates in Southwest Virginia. The program has since expanded to Little Free Libraries and community baby showers.
This year’s Immunization Awareness Month designation is historic: Virginia is the only state to make the observance permanent rather than a temporary annual proclamation, thanks to legislation championed by Delegate Marcia “Cia” Price. ImmunizeVA marked the occasion with an event at The Byrd Theatre in Richmond’s Carytown, featuring Delegate Price, Senator Tim Kaine, and Dr. Tracy Citeroni, a cervical cancer survivor, along with a documentary screening and panel discussion.
For Bel, the link between vaccines and cancer prevention is personal. She lost her father to a glioblastoma, a brain cancer for which researchers are now developing promising preventive vaccines. “Who among us doesn’t know someone who has been affected by cancer?” she asks. The HPV vaccine helps protect against cervical and other cancers, and the hepatitis B vaccine prevents liver cancer — yet a Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 36% of parents have heard nothing about the HPV vaccine. Bel encourages families not to delay, noting that starting vaccination at age 9, as recommended, provides stronger protection.
CACV has long partnered with ImmunizeVA, most recently co-signing an HPV Awareness Day, Call-to-Action letter to providers. “Making sure we’re all standing in unison, delivering the same message, is really important in reestablishing trustworthiness,” Bel says. ImmunizeVA in collaboration with partners including CACV, will soon launch the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine Toolkit for School and Public Health Nurses in Virginia along with an online module.
As a CACV member, Bel says being part of a statewide coalition keeps her connected to her father and others she has lost to cancer. “It’s a really good affirmation that there are so many people out there who care about these topics,” she says.
If you’d like to learn more about ImmunizeVA or become a member, visit their website at https://www.immunizevirginia.org/
Previous Member Highlights
July 2026: UV Safety Awareness Month: Bringing Sun Safety to Families Across SW Virginia, Read Article
June 2026: Honoring Cancer Survivors Month: Michelle Futrell, Director of Lung Cancer Screening Programs and Initiatives at LUNGevity and a member of the CACV Board of Directors, Read Article
March 2026: Colon Cancer Awareness Month: Mindy Conklin, founder and Executive Director of Hitting Cancer Below the Belt (HCB2), Read Article
Know a CACV member making an impact?
We’d love to feature them in an upcoming Member Highlight. Contact us at cacv@cancercoalitionofvirginia.org.
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