Families Fighting Flu and CDC Encourage Parents to Vaccinate Kids A...( December 9th Declared Second ...),Health

December 9th Declared Second Annual Children's Flu Vaccination Day to Help Increase Vaccination Rates and Reduce Flu-Related Illnesses and Deaths

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Families Fighting Flu, Inc. (FFF), together with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are designating today, December 9, the second annual Children's Flu Vaccination Day to remind parents that it's not too late to get their children vaccinated against influenza, or "the flu." The day highlights the critical need for all children aged six months through 18 years to get vaccinated against the flu. According to the CDC, vaccination is the single best means of protecting children from the flu and preventing the spread of influenza, which can lead to hospitalization and even death. Children's Flu Vaccination Day occurs during the CDC's annual National Influenza Vaccination Week (December 8-14, 2008).

"There is a misconception that after Thanksgiving it's too late to get children vaccinated against the flu. That is one of the reasons why we have designated today as Children's Flu Vaccination Day - to remind parents that it's not too late to get their children vaccinated. In fact, flu activity typically does not reach its peak until January or February, and it can occur as late as May," said Anne Schuchat, M.D. Assistant Surgeon General and Director, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC.

Children die every year in the United States from influenza and its complications. In fact, over the past five flu seasons more than 400 children have died from influenza, and more than 20,000 children under the age of five are hospitalized due to influenza each year. Only 22 percent of children six to 23 months of age were fully vaccinated against influenza during the 2007-2008 flu season, even though the CDC recommends that all of these children get vaccinat
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