"In observance of National Infant Immunization
Week, the Department of Health and Human Services and
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will unveil a
national campaign this week (April 13-19th) targeted
towards the nation's black and Hispanic population to
encourage vaccinating infants and children at birth,
2,4,6, 12, and 15 months old. The immunization coverage
has caused a disproportionate number of minority
children not obtaining vaccine-preventable diseases such
as polio and measles.
Vaccination coverage has closed in recent years, yet
there is still a significant disparity. "While
immunization coverage among children in the United
States is at or near record levels for most vaccines,
unfortunately, not all Americans are benefiting equally
from medical advances and disease prevention." Dr.
Christina Beato said, HHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for
Health at HHS. "The nation's health status will never be
as good as it can be as long as we have racial
disparities in our health care system."
The development and widespread use of vaccines among
populations is the purest form of preventive medicine
our nation's health care system can support. Currently,
over 20 percent of the nation's 2-year olds are still
without one or more of the recommended immunizations,
and these rates are 5 to 8 percent higher among the
African American and Hispanic populations.
For more information, call 1-800-364-2057 ext. 34. To
order immunization booklets or download the poster, go
to
www.cdc.gov/nip http://www.cdc.gov/nip. For more
information please visit www.cdc.gov/nip/
http://www.cdc.gov/nip/ or call 1-800-232-0233 (Spanish)
or 1-800-232-2522 (English)."
From the HHS Weekly Report (April
14-20, 2003)
