Routine childhood immunizations help protect infants and children from 14 vaccine-preventable diseases before age two!
North GA - National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW) is an annual observance to promote the benefits of immunizations and to improve health of children two years old or younger. 2019 marks the 25th anniversary of this initiative that emphasizes the critical role routine childhood immunizations play in helping protect infants and children from 14 vaccine-preventable diseases before age two. These vaccines are available at all County Health Departments in the North Georgia Health District, which include Cherokee, Fannin, Gilmer, Murray, Pickens and Whitfield counties.
Log onto Recommended Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule for ages 18 years or younger, United States, 2019 on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website to find out which vaccines are needed at each stage from early childhood through teen years.
Some diseases that once harmed or killed thousands of children are no longer common in the United States, primarily due to safe and effective vaccines.
One example of the positive impact that vaccines have had in the United States is polio. Polio was once America’s most feared disease, causing death and paralysis across the country; but today, thanks to vaccination, there are no reports of polio in the U.S.
Though many diseases are rare in this country, they still occur around the world and can be brought into the United States, putting unvaccinated children at risk. Continued vaccination is still necessary to keep outbreaks from happening. If infants are not immunized, the consequences can be severe.
The need for continued vaccination is pronouncedly underscored by the current increase in measles cases or outbreaks in the United States. From January 1 to April 19, 2019, 626 individual cases of measles have been confirmed in 22 states, including Georgia. This is the second-greatest number of cases reported in the U.S. since measles was eliminated in 2000, second only to the 667 cases reported during 2014. In the coming weeks, 2019 confirmed case numbers will likely surpass 2014 levels. The outbreaks are linked to travelers who brought measles back from other countries where large measles outbreaks are occurring. Therefore, heeding the CDC’s advice to get vaccinated against measles is especially important before traveling internationally.
Our Gilmer County International Travel Clinic, located in Ellijay, Georgia, serves the entire region and provides comprehensive health services that travelers need before leaving the country, including appropriate travel vaccines to ensure a healthy journey abroad and back home again. Click HERE for more information and to make an appointment that can be scheduled right away.
During the 25th anniversary of NIIW, established in 1994, local and state health departments, national immunization partners, healthcare professionals, community leaders from across the United States, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have worked together through NIIW to highlight the positive impact of vaccination on the lives of infants and children, and to call attention to immunization achievements efficacy.
Several important milestones in controlling vaccine-preventable diseases among infants worldwide have already been reached:
- Vaccines have drastically reduced infant death and disability caused by preventable diseases in the United States.
- Through immunization, we can now protect infants and children from 14 vaccine-preventable diseases before age two.
- Routine childhood immunization among children born 1994-2018 will prevent an estimated 419 million illnesses, 26.8 million hospitalizations, and 936,000 early deaths over the course of their lifetimes, at a net savings of $406 billion in direct costs and $1.9 trillion in total societal costs.
- The National Immunization Survey has consistently shown that childhood immunization rates for vaccines routinely recommended for children remain at or near record levels.
The federally funded Vaccines for Children (VFC) program can assist uninsured and underinsured families by providing vaccines free of charge to qualifying children. To help keep your babies safe, it is important that you and other family members are fully immunized.
To schedule an appointment for you or your child to receive immunizations, contact your County Health Department in North Georgia by clicking on the name of your county to link to that Health Department page on this website: Cherokee, Fannin, Gilmer, Murray, Pickens or Whitifield.
Learn more about National Infant Immunization Week on the CDC website at www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw/overview.
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References:
https://www.cdc.gov/measles/cases-outbreaks.html;
https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/events/niiw/overview.html; https://www.vaccines.gov/getting/for_parents/five_reasons