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This year, PVW in San Diego featured a press conference on at 10:30 a.m. Monday, February 14, with experts focusing on two serious diseases: meningococcal meningitis and pertussis. (You can read the full press conference news release here.)
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Dr. Wilma Wooten, County Public Health Officer, encourages parents to immunize their preteens and teens against meningitis, whooping cough, HPV, influenza and chickenpox. She is joined by Dale Parent, a nurse with the San Diego Unified School District and Jonathan DeGuzman, a meningitis survivor. |
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Jonathan DeGuzman, a meningitis survivor, shows his prostheses. His feet and fingers had to be amputated because of meningococcal disease. |
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Dr. Wilma Wooten, M.D., County Public Health Officer, addresses the media at the press conference. At left is Dale Parent, a nurse with the San Diego Unified School District |
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Dale Parent speaks at the press conference. |
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Jonathan DeGuzman, a meningitis survivor, talks about how the disease changed his life six years ago. |
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The event was well-attended by the media; Channels 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 as well as Univision/Telemundo, Azteca America, Diario San Diego and Health Salud. Channel 8 and Channel 10 broadcast live from the County Administration Center next door at 11:00 a.m. |
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Meningococcal meningitis is a serious bacterial infection that can kill an otherwise healthy young person within a day after the first symptoms appear. Less than half of local preteens have received the meningococcal vaccine, leaving them vulnerable to this disease. (More information on an educational campaign about meningitis, called Voices of Meningitis, can be found here.)
Pertussis is epidemic in San Diego and California as a whole, and very widespread in a number of other states. Whooping cough is a serious disease that causes coughing fits that can last for months. In very young infants, it can be a life-threatening disease.
The press conference emphasized the importance of immunization to prevent these two diseases. This is especially important now because of a new school vaccination requirement that all children entering 7th through 12th grade must have proof of a Tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis (Tdap) booster shot. Adolescents (and adults) can unknowingly transmit pertussis to infants who are too young to have received the series of routine childhood Diphtheria-Tetanus-acellular Pertussis (DTaP) immunizations. Those infants can get very ill and might die from this disease.
At the press conference, the experts also spoke about other vaccine-preventable diseases like influenza and chickenpox, which can make adolescents (and others) very sick and can aggravate other health problems. Vaccination rates among adolescents vary, ranging from about 30 percent for influenza to 81 percent for chickenpox.
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(For more information about this new school shot requirement, and other vaccines children need for school entry, please visit the NEW website: www.shotsforschool.org.)
The preteen doctor visit is the other focus of Preteen Vaccine Week. It’s important that 11 and 12-year-olds see the doctor and get immunized. Immunity can diminish over time and your adolescent may be at risk for serious diseases that can be easily spread, like whooping cough and chickenpox.
Parents of preteens are encouraged to schedule a check-up with their child’s doctor to make sure all recommended immunizations are up-to-date. The
doctor may recommend several vaccines, including:
- Tetanus booster (Tdap) to also protect against diphtheria and whooping cough (pertussis). This is especially important now, because of the new school immunization requirement. Click here to find out more. (link to pertussis page)
- Meningococcal vaccine (MCV) to protect against certain serious types of bacterial meningitis and other related infections.
- Human papillomavirus (HPV) 3-dose vaccine series that protects preteen girls against the types of HPV that most commonly cause cervical cancer; boys may also get this vaccine.
- A second dose of chickenpox (varicella) vaccine (if they have never had chickenpox disease).
- Regular seasonal flu vaccine and others from influenza and its complications.
If your preteen does not have health insurance, or is only partially insured, ask your doctor or local health department about getting free or low-cost vaccines.
For more information about adolescent immunizations, please visit the Teens and Preteens page on this website.
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