•April 20, 2016•

Each year, thousands of children become ill from diseases that could have been prevented by basic childhood immunizations. Countless more miss time from daycare and school because they are under-immunized or inappropriately immunized. During National Infant Immunization Week, April 16-23, 2016, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) wants to raise awareness about the importance of childhood immunizations.

Illinois saw a measles outbreak in February 2015 in which 15 cases were associated with a daycare in northern Illinois. Of those 15 cases, 12 were infants too young to be immunized.

“While some babies are too young to be protected by vaccination, others may not be able to receive certain vaccinations due to severe allergies, weakened immune systems from conditions like leukemia, or other reasons,” said IDPH Director Nirav D. Shah, M.D., J.D. “To help keep them safe, it is important that you and your children who are able to get vaccinated are fully immunized. This not only protects your family, but also helps prevent the spread of these diseases in your community.”     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.