UNITY Consortium Launches Campaign to Get Adolescents Up to Date on Well Visits and Immunizations

April 3 -7 is Adolescent Immunization Action Week (#AIAW23). Healthcare organizations, providers, and advocates sign call to action, citing lagging immunizations rates for adolescents. Dr. Paul Offit to discuss post-pandemic adolescent vaccination challenges with youth health advocates during April 4th webinar.

NEWTOWN, Pa., March 29, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- UNITY® Consortium is kicking off Adolescent Immunization Action Week, April 3rd-7th, with a call to action urging parents and healthcare providers to ensure adolescents are up to date on well visits and recommended vaccines. Dozens of public and private healthcare organizations are joining the AIAW campaign to help protect adolescents from vaccine-preventable illnesses.

Despite some improvement in adolescent immunization rates in 2022, coverage disparities remain, particularly among teens in non-metropolitan areas, leaving many adolescents and young adults susceptible to serious, and potentially life-threatening illnesses including meningitis, whooping cough, and cancers caused by the human-papilloma virus (HPV).

Adolescent Immunization Action Week activities and resources include:

• A national public service announcement (PSA) launching on Comcast channels and via PatientPoint® monitors in physician offices nationwide.
• A social media blitz (#AIAW23) on Monday, April 3rd at 12:00 Noon ET and a @YoungInvincible #TodayVoicesTues Twitter chat on Tuesday, April 4th at 3PM ET.
• A webinar discussion on April 4th at 12:00PM ET featuring guest Paul Offit, MD, Director, Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, young advocates, and moderator Chelsea Clinton, DPhil, MPH, Vice Chair, Clinton Foundation.
• Educational information and toolkits for parents and healthcare providers available at unity4teenvax.org and on the CDC's AIAW website page.
• A comprehensive, Spanish language digital and broadcast campaign on TelevisaUnivision including spotlights on Despierta América and content on YouTube and ViX, the leading Spanish-language streaming platform.
• A call-to-action letter signed by Unity and several of its member and partner organizations encouraging healthcare providers to start a conversation about immunizations with adolescent patients and their parents, and to utilize every adolescent visit as an opportunity to update and complete routine immunizations.

"Achieving and maintaining high vaccination rates among adolescents and young adults will help protect our youth and give them a healthy foundation for adulthood," said Dr. Offit. "Adolescent Immunization Action Week serves as an important reminder to both parents and healthcare providers that we need to prioritize immunization for this age group to keep them healthy throughout high school and beyond."

Dr. Offit will also talk about the importance of including adolescents and young adults in conversations about their health on a new episode of Unity's FACTSinnated podcast, available April 5th.

"Adolescent Immunization Action Week is designed to motivate both parents and healthcare providers to spring into action to protect adolescents and young adults, so it's great to see so many public and private organizations joining the movement to help spread awareness," said Judy Klein, President of Unity Consortium. "We encourage parents and providers to take advantage of spring or school holidays to schedule well visits and immunization appointments so that adolescents will be ready for summer activities and school entry requirements for the fall."

To learn more about Adolescent Immunization Action Week or to get involved, visit unity4teenvax.org and follow the conversations on social media using the hashtag #AIAW23.

About Unity Consortium

Unity® Consortium is a non-profit organization that unites diverse groups around a common passion - the imperative to protect against all vaccine-preventable diseases to support lifelong health. Our members represent public and private organizations, industry, academia, healthcare providers, retailers and advocacy groups. As one strong voice, Unity Consortium addresses the unique challenges surrounding adolescent and young adult health, prevention and immunization. For more information, visit us as https://unity4teenvax.org and follow us on Twitter at @UnityConsortium, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube, and like us on Facebook.

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Pull Quote

"Achieving and maintaining high vaccination rates among adolescents and young adults will help protect our youth and give them a healthy foundation for adulthood," said Paul Offit, MD, Director, Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Media Contact

Patty Caballero, Unity Consortium, 1 9733485055, [email protected], unity4teenvax.org

SOURCE Unity Consortium