In observance of National Infant Immunization Week, the Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will unveil a national campaign this week (April 13-19th) targeted towards the nation's black and Hispanic population to encourage vaccinating infants and children at birth, 2,4,6, 12, and 15 months old. The immunization coverage has caused a disproportionate number of minority children not obtaining vaccine-preventable diseases such as polio and measles.

Vaccination coverage has closed in recent years, yet there is still a significant disparity. "While immunization coverage among children in the United States is at or near record levels for most vaccines, unfortunately, not all Americans are benefiting equally from medical advances and disease prevention." Dr. Christina Beato said, HHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health at HHS. "The nation's health status will never be as good as it can be as long as we have racial disparities in our health care system."

The development and widespread use of vaccines among populations is the purest form of preventive medicine our nation's health care system can support. Currently, over 20 percent of the nation's 2-year olds are still without one or more of the recommended immunizations, and these rates are 5 to 8 percent higher among the African American and Hispanic populations.

For more information, call 1-800-364-2057 ext. 34. To order immunization booklets or download the poster, go to www.cdc.gov/nip http://www.cdc.gov/nip. For more information please visit www.cdc.gov/nip/ http://www.cdc.gov/nip/ or call 1-800-232-0233 (Spanish) or 1-800-232-2522 (English).