| Public Health Nurses in Anguilla began a week of vaccination activities with a church service at the Wesleyan Holiness Church on the Stoney Ground Road on Sunday, April 20. They were welcomed by Pastor Juliet Simon and other leaders including Pastor Alwyn Lake who was visiting from St. Maarten and who took the opportunity to commend them for their work. |
Public Health Nurse, Grace Christopher, outlined the activities to mark the April 19-20 Vaccination Week of activities. They included immunizing persons in the health sector who have not previously been vaccinated, students at the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School and workers at the Flag/Temenos and Viceroy projects as well as members of the general public who were invited at the various health centres for vaccination which Nurse Christopher described as “an act of love.” This year marks the Sixth Anniversary of the vaccination initiative in the Americas, including Anguilla, aimed at preventing disease and improving the health of the population. Anguilla is among forty countries involved in the national vaccination campaign. “Anguilla will focus on maintaining immunization coverage to maximum levels for infants under one year, advocate for all children of school age to have their required immunization and target the adult population 25 to 40 years old who have not completed or never received immunization,” a press release stated. “The antigens to be offered to the adult population under 40 years of age include Hepatis B, Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) and Diphtheria and Tetanus (DT).” Anguilla’s Minister of Social Development, Evans Rogers, in declaring open Vaccination Week 2008, saw it as being an important undertaking to “increasing and strengthening routine immunization coverage and advancing awareness of new effective vaccines that can help prevent diseases and save lives.” He noted that since its inception, according to PAHO, some 147 million people had been vaccinated during the special week. “The Sixth Year of this international initiative is an opportunity to bolster vaccination efforts within our primary care settings in order to improve health outcomes nationally, regionally and internationally,” Mr. Rogers stated. “It comes at an exciting time for all of us as we can now build on the successes of smallpox eradication from the world, in the 1970s, which many believe caused more sickness and death than any other infectious disease, following a well-planned and highly effective vaccination campaign.” Mr. Rogers added: “Vaccination Week is an opportunity to promote vaccination not only in Anguilla but throughout the rest of the region. As Minister with responsibility for health, I am calling on health workers to take the lead role in this extraordinary event to continue our efforts to save lives and improve health. We are seeking partnerships with organisations that can help to bring the message to millions across the globe: Remember, vaccination is an act of love. |
