August Is Immunization Awareness Month

Senator Kemp Hannon (R-Garden City), Chairman of the Senate Health Committee, announced August is National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM). NIAM's goal is to increase awareness about immunizations across the life span, from infants to the elderly.

"Sometimes it is easy to forget the reason why Americans are so much healthier than much of the world is that we have effective guidelines for childhood and adult immunizations. As soon as vaccines become available, they are tested and administered to prevent many of the diseases which plagued earlier generations," said Senator Hannon.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), below are some of the latest changes to the immunization schedule: The new rotavirus vaccine (Rota) is recommended in a 3-dose schedule at ages 2, 4, and 6 months. The first dose should be administered at ages 6 weeks through 12 weeks with subsequent doses administered at 4-10 week intervals. Rotavirus vaccination should not be initiated for infants aged 12 weeks and should not be administered after age 32 weeks.

· The influenza vaccine is now recommended for all children aged 6-59 months.

· Varicella vaccine recommendations are updated. The first dose should be administered at age 12-15 months, and a newly recommended second dose should be administered at age 4-6 years.

· The main change to the format of the schedule is the division of the recommendation into two schedules: one schedule for persons aged 0-6 years and another for persons aged 7-18 years.

More information on child and adult vaccines is available at http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines

Senator Hannon added, "All parents should be familiar with immunization schedules, and it is important for adults to realize vaccines are available to them as well."