Preteen Vaccine Week: Keeping the Spotlight on Adolescent Immunizations
This guest post was written by Jeff Good, PharmD, MPH, President of the California Immunization Coalition.
In 2011, a new school immunization mandate went into effect in California, requiring adolescents to provide proof that they have received a tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine to attend school. The new mandate increased Tdap vaccination rates and put a spotlight on the important role that immunizations play in keeping adolescents healthy. It also called attention to the fact that adolescent immunization rates in California remain low, leaving hundreds of thousands of adolescents vulnerable to diseases that can be serious, including pertussis, meningococcal disease, and human papillomavirus-related cancers.
Immunization coverage levels in California fell far below the national Healthy People 2020 target of 80%. In 2010, only 67% of California’s adolescents had received a dose of meningococcal vaccine; 71% had received a Tdap vaccine; and only 32% of females had received the 3 doses of HPV4 vaccine recommended to protect against genital warts, cervical cancer, and other cancers (Figure1).
The recognition that adolescent immunization rates are low has invigorated the efforts of health, adolescent, and immunization stakeholders to increase awareness about adolescent immunizations, improve office-based immunization systems, and link families with low-cost and no-cost vaccinations. Join the California Immunization Coalition and its partners in celebrating Preteen Vaccine Week (February 12-18, 2012). This campaign is an opportune time to increase immunization awareness and test new strategies to:
- encourage parents and providers to schedule a comprehensive preventive visit for all preteens at 11-12 years of age to provide recommended immunizations and discuss other preventive health recommendations
- encourage providers to use proven systems to bring adolescents into the office and reduce missed opportunities to vaccinate
- educate parents and teens about the importance of immunizations and the risks of skipping or delaying immunizations
- raise awareness about two new laws impacting adolescent immunizations and
- link families with resources that provide no-cost and low-cost immunizations.
To learn more about adolescent immunizations, school immunization requirements, and Preteen Vaccine Week, please review our issue brief and visit www.immunizeca.org and www.shotsforschool.org.
Posted by kidsdata.org
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 at 11:16 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.