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Why Immunize?
Immunization Saves Young Lives Measles is the number one vaccine-preventable disease that kills infants worldwide. Failure to immunize can lead to new outbreaks of this disease. Between 1989 and 1991, a United States measles epidemic resulted in more than 55,000 reported cases, 11,000 hospitalizations and approximately 130 deaths. More than half of those deaths were infants. In the era before vaccines, millions of American children died from childhood diseases. Today children who are not immunized or up-to-date on their shots are still at risk of serious illness, particularly infants. Infants are more likely to suffer more complications - even death - if they contract vaccine-preventable disease.Age-appropriate immunization starts at birth and continues through adulthood, with special emphasis through age two. As the number of single-parent and dual-income families increase, more children are exposed to vaccine-preventable disease in day-care settings, making timely immunization even more critical.
Oregon Immunization Rates Are Too Low Only 69% of our two-year-olds are up-to-date on their immunizations, ranking Oregon 46th out of 50 states. This means that almost a third of our young children are not fully protected against vaccine-preventable diseases. |
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