SINT MAARTEN (GREAT BAY, (DCOMM) – The 20th Annual Vaccination Week of the Americas (VWA) 2022 is currently underway throughout the Americas to prevent childhood diseases. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) initiative started on April 23 and runs through April 30.
The vaccine-preventable disease campaign entails immunizing approximately 140 million people in the Americas. The theme for VWA 2022 is, “Are you fully vaccinated? Get all your shots.”
It is very important for every child to get vaccinated against childhood diseases which prevents illness, disability and death from vaccine-preventable diseases including cervical cancer, diphtheria, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, pertussis (whooping cough), pneumonia, polio, rotavirus, diarrhea, rubella, and tetanus.
The Collective Prevention Services (CPS), a department of the Ministry of Public Health, Social Development and Labor, Section Youth Health Care Baby Wellness Clinic, in collaboration with the Department of Community Development, Family and Humanitarian Affairs (CDFHA), have planned three youth vaccination community outreach activities as part of its youth immunization program at the Community Helpdesk in Dutch Quarter, St. Peters and Cole Bay.
Section Youth Health Care Baby Wellness Clinic nurses will be available to administer vaccines for the age group 0-4 at the Dutch Quarter Community Helpdesk on Monday, May 9; St. Peters Helpdesk on Wednesday, May 11 and the Cole Bay Helpdesk on Friday, May 13, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM.
Parents and guardians are advised to take note of the aforementioned dates and to review their child’s vaccination schedule to make sure it’s up to date and that their child is fully protected.
If the baby/child – 0-4-years old – vaccinations are not up to date, parents and guardians are requested to call one of the following numbers 542-3003 or 520-4163 (also WhatsApp option) and make an appointment to visit one of the Community Helpdesk on one of the aforementioned dates.
VWA 2022 is an opportunity to improve vaccination rates and preventable diseases in the Americas. According to PAHO, vaccines work and for the last 20-years have prevented millions from getting sick, hospitalized and from dying.
“The Americas region is a global benchmark in immunizations. In 1971, it became the first region in the world to eliminate smallpox. In 1994, it managed to certify the elimination of polio, in 2015, it put an end to rubella and congenital rubella syndrome, in 2016, it eliminated measles, and in 2017, neonatal tetanus.
“Vaccination Week in the Americas began in 2003 as an effort by countries in the region to tackle a measles outbreak in Colombia and Venezuela.
“Over the past 19 years, more than one billion people of all ages have been vaccinated against some 20 diseases under the initiative. In 2012 it became a global movement when the World Health Assembly established World Immunization Week,” according to a PAHO statement.
Vaccines remain the best option of protection in eliminating childhood diseases.
Source: Souliga Newsday https://www.soualiganewsday.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=43344:cps-to-launch-its-youth-immunization-campaign-in-may&Itemid=450
