Disease and disability can be avoided if children are adequately immunized. The City of Long Beach Health Department is promoting childhood immunization by participating in outreach campaigns to educate parents about the safety and importance of infant and toddler immunizations. California’s Toddler Immunization Month in May is an annual opportunity to promote raising and maintaining high immunization levels in children ages 2 years and younger against 14 vaccine-preventable diseases.

This year’s theme is “Immunizations. On time. Every time.” The goal is to remind parents and caregivers that children need a complete series of vaccinations to be fully protected from debilitating and potentially deadly diseases. Infants who are not immunized, or whose immunizations are delayed, are vulnerable to serious diseases like measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, pneumonia and meningitis.

Parents are often unaware that children are at risk for so many serious diseases. Low levels of disease in the community means that vaccination programs have been successful. Immunizations are among the most successful and cost-effective public health tools of all time. However, certain diseases are on the rise because parents choose to avoid or delay immunizations for their children.

Parents with concerns or questions about vaccines can contact the Health Departments Immunization Project at 562-570-4212, or visit the Centers for Disease Control website at www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents.

Parents of infants and toddlers who need vaccine but do not have insurance can call the Long Beach Health Department at 562-570-4315 to get low-cost immunizations and referrals for programs to help with finding a local health care provider. For more information about the Health Department’s Immunization Program, log onto www.longbeach.gov/health and click on “clinics.”