Personal Health, immunizations

Immunizations

The evidence clearly supports their use. The recommendations are very straightforward, and the patients generally understand the need for them. So why are immunizations such a challenge to deliver? Despite the availability of an unprecedented number of vaccines for both children and adults, many people fail to benefit from them because of barriers to immunization delivery — some real and some perceived.

National Immunization Awareness Month

August is National Immunization Awareness Month and serves as an opportune time to review some of the current issues in the immunization field. Novel and pertinent developments include the threat of pandemic influenza, adolescent immunizations, a new vaccine for the elderly population, and the mumps outbreak in the Midwest.

Avian Influenza/Pandemic Influenza

It’s Influenza Season Again!

It’s fall, and time to think about getting all of our patients protected from influenza. Although there has been a great deal of media attention on the influenza A (H5N1) avian influenza virus in southeast Asia, our patients face a much greater immediate threat from the good old-fashioned influenza strains that circulate every year in San Diego. The San Diego Health and Human Services virology laboratory has already isolated both influenza A and influenza B strains in San Diego this fall.

Immunizations

August is National Immunization Awareness Month, and the San Diego County Immunization Initiative (I-3), a coalition of more than 150 public and private health-related organizations, is asking people throughout the region to check if they and their loved ones are up-to-date on their immunizations. August is a particularly good time to focus community attention on the value of immunization. Parents are enrolling children in school, older students are entering college, and seniors and the healthcare community are preparing for the upcoming influenza season.