National Immunization Awareness Month: 2013

News provided by

Aug 14, 2013, 11:52 ET

"The Power to Protect" Focuses on Education and Disease Prevention

YORK, Pa., Aug. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- August is National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM) – furnishing both an annual as well as timely opportunity to highlight the need for improving national immunization coverage levels. In Pennsylvania, The Center for Disease Control (CDC), Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) and the Pennsylvania Immunization Coalition (PAIC) join with other state and local public health departments to encourage everyone to protect their health by getting recommended immunizations up-to-date.

"The Power to Protect", central theme of NIAM 2013, addresses the ability and the availability for each person to receive the recommended vaccines for their age, through a variety of community resources. August is also a great time to receive recommended immunizations for children in grades K-12, college students, new mothers and any "caregiver" in any capacity to protect themselves - and the ones they care for, against vaccine preventable diseases. Teens through adults, ages 19 through 65+ can check with their family physicians, local pharmacies and health care facilities, to be fully protected.

Joanne Sullivan, PAIC Executive Director, calls attention to the "power" everyone has to take the first step to remain healthy. "People of all ages can protect their health with timely vaccinations. It is our first step in protection against many vaccine preventable diseases, like pertussis (whooping cough), meningitis, measles and the flu.

"PAIC, in partnership with the CDC and PA DOH, works with health care providers and networks and local immunization coalitions throughout Pennsylvania, to eradicate vaccine preventable diseases through ongoing education, community outreach activities and health care centers offering vaccines to lower-income families."

The facts regarding success of immunizations are clear and compelling. Since the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 1988, the number of polio cases has decreased by 99% worldwide, reported in "Immunization Works", CDC Newsletter.

The CDC has valuable resources for National Immunization Awareness Month, including the following:

To encourage parents of young children to get recommended immunizations by age two; reach out with posters, video PSAs, tweets [2 pages], Facebook posts [3 pages], and more.
To help parents ensure that older children, preteens, and teens have received all recommended vaccines by the time they go back to school.
To remind college students about immunizations before they move into dormitories.
To educate adults, including healthcare workers, about vaccines and boosters they may need.
To educate pregnant women about getting vaccinated to protect newborns from diseases like whooping cough (pertussis).