CDC Reminder: National Infant Immunization Week Starts Tomorrow
CDC is reminding the public that National Infant Immunization Week and Vaccination Week in the Americas starts tomorrow and continues through April 26, 2008. Hundreds of communities throughout the United States are expected to sponsor activities to emphasize the health benefits of timely vaccination and the importance to parents, health-care providers, and communities of maintaining high vaccination coverage.
Immunization is one of the most effective ways to protect infants and children from potentially serious diseases, said CDC, stressing that the ongoing relationship among parents and their children's health-care providers in vaccination programs plays a key role. Parents are encouraged to talk to their health-care providers about vaccinations at any time.
The currently recommended childhood vaccination schedule includes vaccines that prevent infectious diseases such as measles, polio, whooping cough, some forms of meningitis and pneumonia, and liver cancer. An analysis of the impact of seven vaccines, CDC said, showed that they would prevent approximately 33,500 deaths and 14 million illnesses per annual birth cohort.
Events held in collaboration with CDC and state and local health departments will be hosted in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Washington.
More information is available at www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw/default.htm and www.paho.org/english/dd/pin/vw2008.htm.