The COSHAR Foundation Launches National Childhood Immunization Awareness Campaign During National Infant Immunization Week (Ap...( Protecting our Future: The COSHAR Fou...),Health

Protecting our Future: The COSHAR Foundation's Immunization Project aims to raise awareness of the importance of timely childhood vaccination, and

increase vaccine compliance rates

CHEVY CHASE, Md., April 23 /PRNewswire/-- The COSHAR Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to health education, improvement and empowerment with a focus on minority and disadvantaged populations; has launched a national immunization awareness campaign, Protecting our Future: The COSHAR Foundation Immunization Project. As part of this campaign, The COSHAR Foundation will utilize its National Health Ministry Network (NHMN), which consists of more than 11,000 churches and 212 community organizations, to raise awareness of the importance of timely childhood vaccination, and to ultimately increase vaccine compliance rates among under-vaccinated children.

The campaign will kick off during National Infant Immunization Week, and is a call-to-action that includes an initiative called "Immunization Sundays," which encourages parents and caregivers to ensure that children are receiving necessary vaccinations as recommended by their healthcare providers. The COSHAR Foundation will launch this initiative on April 25 at the Christian Faith Center in Creedmoor, N.C. by distributing free immunization toolkits to Pastors, church officials and parishioners to help them educate their congregation and community members about the importance of vaccination. The toolkit will be distributed to the NHMN and any congregation that requests information, and includes resources, flyers, information, questions and answer documents, scriptural references and recommendations for congregational activities and events.

"We believe that early vaccination is the best defense against many vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles, tuberculosis and rubella," says Sharon Allison-Ottey, M.D., executive director, The COSHAR Foundation. "We urge patients and caregivers
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