Are your children's vaccinations up-to-date? The World Health Organization (WHO) urges every nation to actively promote the importance of timely vaccinations, and in honor of World Immunization Week on the last week of April, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) held a media conference on April 23, 2014 to encourage parents to immunize their children on time. Dr. Tzong-Ning Huang, a well-known and trusted pediatrician, and young celebrity twins Apple and Sidra together with their mother, Amanda, attended the press conference to underscore the importance of timely vaccinations.
Amanda, mother to celebrity twins Apple and Sidra, said that she makes sure her daughters are vaccinated on time every year. "Vaccines work like a high wall surrounded by a deep moat," said Amanda, "they defend children from attack by bacteria and viruses." Now three years old, Apple and Sidra are healthy and bouncing baby girls, and Amanda credits her children's well-being to regular and timely vaccinations.
Taiwan CDC reminds all parents that pneumococcal infections can cause pneumonia, bacteremia, meningitis and middle ear infection in children. Without prompt medical treatment, the risk of death by infection increases by 80%. In Taiwan, approximately one person is infected with pneumococcal disease every 12 hours and the best method of prevention is vaccinations.
Beginning March 2013, the Taiwanese government provided pneumococcal vaccines for children two to five years old for free. As a result, in less than one year the number of the pneumococcal infection cases among 2-to-5-year-olds decreased by 44%, compared to the same period in 2012. In addition, the number of the serotype 19A cases also dropped. As of December 2013, the immunization rate in Taiwan hovered around 64%, which is still below the 70% vaccination rate recommended by international medical statistics to ensure herd immunity. In order to increase the national vaccination rate, Taiwan CDC announced that all children one to two years old in Taiwan may receive free pneumococcal vaccines beginning January 2014. As such, children born from 2009 to 2013 are eligible for free vaccinations to bring them up-to-date on their vaccination schedules.
World Immunization Week aims to decrease rates of hospital stays and death, enhance protection against communicable diseases and reduce rates of infections and Taiwan CDC Director-General Feng-Yee Chang urges all parents to take advantage of free immunizations during World Immunization Week to fully protect their children.
If you have any questions, please visit the Taiwan CDC's website (http://www.cdc.gov.tw) or call the toll-free hotline for the latest vaccine news, 1922 (or 0800-001922) for more information.