0 Comments | U.S. Newswire, Mar 16, 2010
ORLANDO, March 16 /PRNewswire/ — Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Lanier and Orlando Magic Legend Nick Anderson teamed up with NBA Cares and the Society for Adolescent Medicine (SAM) today to bring Vaccines for Teens to the Orlando community. Vaccines for Teens is a national multimedia campaign designed to educate teens and their parents about the importance of vaccination against serious and potentially life-threatening diseases.
To tip off the campaign locally, Lanier and Anderson appeared at the Glenridge Middle School in Orlando, Florida to urge parents of preteens and teens to discuss adolescent vaccinations with their family physicians.
Teens are at risk for influenza disease, both seasonal and the influenza A (H1N1) virus, as well as for other serious infectious diseases such as meningococcal disease (including meningitis) and whooping cough (pertussis). The basketball superstar and local community leaders agree it is more important than ever to help protect preteens and teens in the Orlando area from the potentially life-threatening complications of these diseases.
“Vaccination can help teens grow into healthy adults, and is beneficial for the students at Glenridge Middle School and for teens throughout the Orlando area,” said Anderson. “In basketball, the best offense is a good defense, and the same holds true for protecting teen health.”
Adolescent Immunization is More Important than Ever in Orlando
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other leading medical groups recommend vaccination for preteens and teens against influenza, meningococcal meningitis and whooping cough (pertussis). Yet vaccination rates for all three diseases among this group remain alarmingly low in Florida, where fewer than 35 percent of teens between 13 and 17 years of age have been vaccinated against meningococcal disease and whooping cough.
Adolescent immunization in Florida is a very important community health issue. Between 9,300 and 37,190 Orlando area residents suffer from influenza annually. The Florida Department of Health continues to encourage all Floridians, including preteens and teens, to be vaccinated against both strains of the virus. Amid concerns about influenza during this time of year, parents also need to know that late-winter and early-spring is peak season for meningococcal meningitis. In addition, statewide cases of whooping cough have increased during the past few years.
To help protect adolescents, new immunization requirements issued by the Florida Department of Health went into effect last fall requiring students entering seventh grade to receive one dose of the tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis (Tdap) vaccine.
“With teens in such close contact in classrooms and on school sports teams, these infectious diseases can spread easily from student to student,” said Veenod Chulani, M.D
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