The National Meningitis Association (NMA) applauds the state of Arizona for issuing the first state mandate requiring all children entering sixth grade to receive meningococcal and pertussis (whooping cough) vaccination by September 2008 prior to school entry.
NMA in collaboration with the Arizona Department of Health Services, The Arizona Partnership for Immunization, and the Society of Adolescent Medicine, has developed tools to assist state and county public health departments, health care providers, and schools in educating about the mandate and communicating the importance of meningococcal and pertussis vaccination to advance the health and well-being of adolescents throughout Arizona, as well as across the country.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends meningococcal immunization for all pre-teens and teens 11 through 18 years of age and college freshmen living in dormitories.
On behalf of our partners, we thank you for helping inform parents about this important new mandate. Together we can help protect our nation’s pre-teens and teens from these serious, yet vaccine-preventable diseases.
The goals of this program are supported by the CDC.
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