57 American children: The flu vaccine

Today is the birthday of my beloved father, may he rest in peace. It brings to mind his long work with Rotary International to raise money to eradicate polio through vaccinations.

I read just now that 57 American children who had not received the flu vaccine during the last flu season died from the flu, according to figures compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Their deaths were easily preventable.

Advice: Pass this on to your friends with young children, who are particularly susceptible to the flu.

Read another vaccination story here. Thanks to the writers of Infection Control Today for their source story today.

It was easily preventable: Luis Fermin Tenorio and H1N1

In 1991, a young boy in Peru became the last child in the entire Western Hemisphere to get polio. He hadn't been immunized, though the vaccine was available. Now about 21 years old, Luis Fermin Tenorio had been only a toddler at the time. That life-changing event was easily preventable.

Now we are in the midst of an epidemic that has killed 11,000 people in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control An inexpensive vaccine is available to everyone through doctors' offices, CVS, Walgreen's, and many other places.

Don't let someone in your family risk suffering or dying needlessly from the H1N1 virus!

Advice: Get vaccinated against the swine flu now.

Read another vaccination story.