Pneumococcal
Pneumococcal Disease: Are You Protected?
There’s a disease that kills up to 18,000 US adults age 65 years and older each year. It can cause pneumonia, bloodstream infections (sepsis), meningitis, and ear and sinus infections. As many as 900,000 US adults contract it each year — 400,000 of whom require hospitalization. Pneumococcal disease is a serious concern for anyone over the age of 65, but there are safe and effective vaccines to help prevent it.
Making the Case for Adult Vaccines
The US healthcare system is on the verge of an exciting transformation that focuses first on keeping people healthy. We must send a strong signal that increasing immunization rates among adults in the US is indeed a national priority.
Celebrating National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW)
The NFID 19th Annual Conference on Vaccine Research (April 18-20, 2016) organizers have developed a track of presentations and posters discussing maternal and infant immunization, in honor of National Infant Immunization Week.
Leading By Example in Preventing Influenza
On September 17, 2015, NFID hosted the 19th Annual Influenza/Pneumococcal News Conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Tom Frieden, MD, MPH, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), joined with leading medical/public health experts at the news conference and encouraged all individuals age 6 months and older to get vaccinated against influenza (flu) annually.
Older Adults Need Vaccines, Too!
Similar to eating healthy foods, exercising, and getting regular check-ups, vaccines are vital in order to stay healthy, particularly for older adults. As you age, your immune system typically does not function as well as it used to, making older adults more susceptible to vaccine-preventable infectious diseases and serious complications.
Adult Immunization and ACIP Updates
Immunization is one of the 10 great public health successes of the 20th century. Through the use of vaccines, measles and rubella have been eliminated in the western hemisphere, polio has been eliminated from most of the world, and smallpox has been completely eradicated. However, while childhood vaccination rates are relatively high in the US, adult vaccination rates remain low.
Stay Heart Healthy: Vaccines for Adults with Heart Disease
The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) encourages you to use American Health Month to promote heart healthy behaviors and remind patients with heart disease about the importance of staying up-to-date with recommended vaccines – especially flu and pneumococcal vaccines – due to their increased risk of becoming ill with serious complications.
The Year in Review: Top 5 News Stories of 2014
2014 featured much activity in the world of infectious diseases–from the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, to increasing vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks here in the US.…
Give the Gift of Health This Holiday Season
Each year in the US, tens of thousands needlessly suffer, are hospitalized, and even die as a result of vaccine-preventable diseases. According to the Centers for Disease…
When It Comes to Immunization, Adults Are Not Just Grown Up Children
William Schaffner, MD, professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and past-president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID), was honored…