Preteen Vaccine Week is Coming Feb. 12-18!
Preteen Vaccine Week is a yearly observance to highlight the importance of vaccinations for preteens and also the preteen doctor’s visit. Immunizations help protect against a number of serious diseases, and 11-12 year olds should have these:

• Tdap: Tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis (whooping cough)

• HPV: (Human papilloma virus) vaccine (for girls and boys—protects against genital warts and cancer, including cervical cancer, later in life)

• Flu

• Meningococcal: (protects against meningococcal meningitis, a bacterial infection which can cause brain damage, arm and leg amputations, kidney damage and death)

• Chickenpox: (varicella)—(more than just an itchy rash; it can cause pneumonia or serious skin infections.

Flu Season 2011-12
Flu season is here, and it's time for everyone 6 months of age and older to get flu vaccine.

Have you received flu vaccine for this flu season? What about your family and friends? Coworkers? If not, why not? 

It is especially important for those who work with and care for children to get flu vaccine protection. You don't want to inadvertently expose the children to influenza. And you don't want to miss work or school because you're ill with the flu.

Did you know that the single best way to protect against the flu is to get flu vaccine every year?

According to the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, seasonal flu vaccines protect against the three influenza viruses that research indicates will be most common during the upcoming season. The viruses in the vaccine can change each year based on international surveillance and scientists’ estimations about which types and strains of viruses will circulate in a given year. About 2 weeks after vaccination, antibodies that provide protection against the influenza viruses in the vaccine develop in the body. Information specific to the 2011-2012 season, including the vaccine formulation, can be found at 2011-2012 Flu Season.