The Sacramento Board of Supervisors, including Roger Dickinson, Chair, have partnered with the California School Nurses Organization (CSNO), Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services, and Sacramento Healthy Community Immunization Coalition, to declare August 16-20 as Voices of Meningitis Week in support of the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) Voices of Meningitis campaign, a program that aims to help educate families of preteens and teens about the dangers of meningococcal meningitis and the importance of vaccination (see also Meningitis).
Meningococcal disease may be rare, but it's often devastating and can take the life of a healthy child in just a single day. Public health officials recommend meningococcal vaccination for preteens and teens 11 through 18 years of age and college freshmen living in dormitories. Yet, despite these public health recommendations, the National Immunization Survey found that less than half of California teens 13 through 17 years of age have been immunized, which is far below the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) goal of a 90 percent vaccination rate.
'Over the years our community has suffered the deaths of young people from this disease. We now have an effective vaccine to prevent the disease and back to school is the perfect time for those entering middle school or high school to get vaccinated,' said Glennah Trochet, MD, Sacramento County Public Health Officer.
'I urge parents of preteens and teens in Sacramento County to speak to their child's school nurse or health-care provider about meningitis and vaccination, especially this week as we declare it Voices of Meningitis Week,' said Supervisor Dickinson.
Following the declaration, local Sacramento preteens and teens from the Twin Rivers Unified School District will lead by example by receiving their meningococcal vaccination.
Keywords: Active Immunotherapy, Bacterial Vaccines, Biological Therapy, California School Nurses Organization, Central Nervous System Disease, Communicable Disease Control, Environment and Public Health, Human, Immunization, Immunomodulation, Meningitis, Meningococcal Vaccines, Pediatrics, Public Health Practice, Therapeutics, Vaccination.
This article was prepared by Biotech Week editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2010, Biotech Week via NewsRx.com.
