Infant Meningitis Awareness - Protect Infants Now

I know there is open debate on whether or not to vaccinate your children.  Everyone has their own beliefs and I'm not here to judge.  Personally, I've had all of my children vaccinated and feel okay with that decision.  I would like to tell you abut Meningococcal Disease, the Meningitis Angels, and the Protect Infants NOW (PIN) petition, which will hopefully educate and inform you of the disease, how it affects children, and what you can do to recommend infant meningitis vaccines.

Meningococcal disease is a leading cause of meningitis (an infection of the membrane around the brain and spinal cord) and sepsis (a life-threatening bloodstream infection).

Aside from injuries and neonatal complications, meningoccal disease is among the leading causes of preventable infant death in the U.S.  Approximately 50-60% of these cases are vaccine preventable.

Recent CDC estimates reveal that meningococcal disease incidence is three to seven times higher in infants under one year old than in any other age group, and the highest risk for meningococcal disease is during the first seven months of life.

Approximately 1 in 16 infants who contract meningococcal disease will die from it.

There are more deaths from meningococcal disease each year than there are from pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella and rotavirus disease -all infections which infants currently receive vaccines for.

Let your voice be heard and visit Protect Infants Now to learn how you can raise your voice and ask the CDC to make the right decision by encouraging them to recommend adding this lifesaving vaccine to the infant immunization schedule.  You can sign the Protect Infants Now (PIN) petition, like I have, to help with efforts to protect our children and try to eliminate as many cases of this disease as possible.

Meningitis Angels is a national non-profit organization founded in memory of a child who's life was taken as a result of meningoccocal meningitis/meningococcemia.  Meningitis Angels educates the public, health professionals, child care facilities, schools and universities on meningitis and other vaccine preventable diseases and the preventions including vaccines, through personal stories or educational brochures, posters, and videos.  You can learn more by viewing the Meningitis Angels PSA video.

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central and Meningitis Angels. This campaign was made possible in part through support provided by Novartis Vaccines. A small donation to a charity of my choice was made in my name from Mom Central as a thank-you for participating. All opinions in this posting are 100% my own.

This post contains an embedded video.