This video presents “The world’s first World Immunization Week: Canada celebrates!” by the Canadian Coalition for Immunization Awareness & Promotion (CCIAP):
National Immunization Awareness Week (NIAW) on April 21 – 28, 2012, is held annually:
- to focus the attention of Canadians on the importance of vaccinations for all ages
- whereby members of the Canadian Coalition for Immunization Awareness & Promotion (CCIAP) will be spreading the word at the national level
- and coincides with Vaccination Week in the Americas (VWA):
- organized by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)
- during which countries in North, Central and South America will encourage parents, caregivers, and health care providers to ensure children and adults are immunized
- reaching out to populations with little access to regular health services, such as those populations living in urban fringes, rural and border areas and in indigenous communities
- since its inception in 2003, more than 365 million individuals of all ages have been vaccinated during campaigns of VWA.
Canada is part of a bigger group of countries celebrating the success of immunizations across the globe:
- The world’s first World Immunization Week is from April 21 to 28, 2012.
- For the first time in the world’s history, more than 180 World Health Organization (WHO) member states, territories and areas will celebrate the millions of lives saved and countless disease cases prevented in Canada and around the world.
- In the early 1900s, infectious diseases were the leading cause of death worldwide, but today:
- in Canada, they are responsible for less than 5% of all deaths
- worldwide immunization prevents between 2 and 3 million deaths every year
- from infants to senior citizens, immunization prevents debilitating illness, disability and death from vaccine-preventable diseases such as:
- diphtheria
- hepatitis A and B
- measles
- mumps
- pneumococcal disease
- polio
- rotavirus diarrhoea
- tetanus
- and yellow fever
- the benefits of worldwide immunization are increasingly being extended to adolescents and adults, providing protection against life-threatening diseases such as:
- influenza
- meningitis
- and cancers (e.g. cervical and liver cancers) that occur in adulthood
- However, success also brings the following national challenges and/or global complacency:
- “Canada still faces challenges as more and more individuals raise concerns about the safety and effectiveness of immunizations,” stated Dr. Susan Bowles, Chair, CCIAP:
- Canada is rigorous about vaccine safety.
- Immunizations are safe and benefit people of all ages.
- They protect individuals and communities by preventing the spread of disease.
- As more people are immunized, the disease risk for everyone is reduced.
- Ironically, the fact that worldwide immunization has made many infectious diseases rare or almost unheard of can lead to the opinion among parents and health professionals that immunization is no longer necessary.
- Due to gaps in vaccination coverage, diseases like diphtheria, measles and polio are making a comeback.
- Disease outbreaks affect everyone.
- “Canada still faces challenges as more and more individuals raise concerns about the safety and effectiveness of immunizations,” stated Dr. Susan Bowles, Chair, CCIAP:
- National Immunization Poster Contest:
- for Grade 6 students is organized in conjunction with the Canadian Immunization Conference, which is held every two years
- will take place in the fall of 2012
CCIAP reminds you to ask your health care provider if you and your family are up to date with immunizations. Protect your world. Get immunized:
- To protect the population better, Ontario recently expanded the publicly funded immunization schedule for childhood immunizations to include three new, additional, FREE-of-charge vaccines:
- a rotavirus vaccine
- a new combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine
- a second dose of varicella vaccine to help increase childhood immunity against chickenpox
As part of this expansion, a pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine for adults 19 to 64 years of age who missed getting their teenage booster shot is also available FREE of charge.
- Parents can protect their children from life-threatening diseases by following the childhood immunization schedule.
Every time school-aged children receive a vaccine, their parent/guardian should report it to Toronto Public Health in one of these ways:
- Online reporting system can be accessed through http://www.toronto.ca/health/immunization_children/immunization_records.htm
- Call: 416-392-1250
- Fax: 416-338-2487
- by snail mail: Toronto Public Health – Immunization, 850 Coxwell Ave., Toronto, M4C 5R1
- (Send clear photocopy only. Do not send the original yellow immunization card.)
For more information, call the Immunization Information Line at 416-392-1250.
For immunization resources, visit http://www.toronto.ca/health/immunization_children/index.htm or call 416-338-7600.
Links:
- Canadian Coalition for Immunization Awareness & Promotion (CCIAP) (http://www.immunize.cpha.ca/en/events/niaw.aspx)
- National Immunization Awareness Week, Toronto Public Health (http://www.toronto.ca/health/immunization_children/immunizationweek.htm)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
NEWS RELEASE
April 20, 2012
Protect your world. Get immunized!
The City of Toronto has proclaimed April 21 to 28 as National Immunization Awareness Week in Toronto, an annual event sponsored by the Canadian Coalition for Immunization Awareness. Toronto Public Health (TPH) urges all residents to get immunized to protect themselves, their families and friends from dangerous yet preventable diseases.
“Diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps and rubella commonly caused death and illness in our city a century ago, particularly among children, and can now be safely prevented by vaccines,” said Dr. David McKeown, Medical Officer of Health, Toronto Public Health.
To protect the population better, Ontario recently expanded the publicly funded immunization schedule for childhood immunizations to include three new, additional, free-of-charge vaccines:
• a rotavirus vaccine
• a new combined measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine
• a second dose of varicella vaccine to help increase childhood immunity against chickenpox
As part of this expansion, a pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine for adults 19 to 64 years of age who missed getting their teenage booster shot is also available free of charge.
“Immunization is one of the most important tools we have to protect the health of children and to greatly reduce lifelong health risks for all members of the community,” said Councillor John Filion (Ward 23 Willowdale), Chair of the Board of Health.
Parents can protect their children from life-threatening diseases by following the childhood immunization schedule at http://www.toronto.ca/health/immunization_children/immunization_schedule.htm.
Every time school-aged children receive a vaccine, their parents/guardians should report each vaccination to Toronto Public Health in one of these ways:
• Online reporting system can be accessed through http://www.toronto.ca/health/immunization_children/immunization_records.htm
• Call: 416-392-1250
• Fax: 416-338-2487
• mail: Toronto Public Health – Immunization, 850 Coxwell Ave., Toronto, M4C 5R1
(Send clear photocopy only. Do not send the original yellow immunization card.)
For more information, call the Immunization Information Line at 416-392-1250.
For immunization resources, visit http://www.toronto.ca/health/immunization_children/index.htm or call 416-338-7600.
Links:
• Canadian Coalition for Immunization Awareness & Promotion (CCIAP) (http://www.immunize.cpha.ca/en/events/niaw.aspx)
• National Immunization Awareness Week, Toronto Public Health (http://www.toronto.ca/health/immunization_children/immunizationweek.htm)
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