WHO: Nick Anderson – Orlando Magic Legend and Vaccines for Teens spokesperson
Bob Lanier – NBA Legend and Basketball Hall of Famer
Veenod Chulani, M.D. – Society for Adolescent Medicine
Robert Colon – Florida Bureau of Immunization
John Kach – Meningococcal Disease Survivor
More than 400 Glenridge Middle School Students
WHAT: Vaccines for Teens (www.vaccinesforteens.net) is a national multimedia campaign designed to educate preteens, teens and their parents about the importance of vaccination against serious, potentially life-threatening diseases. Orlando Magic Legend Nick Anderson and Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Lanier will launch the campaign in Orlando with a school assembly and media program at the Glenridge Middle School.
Anderson and Lanier will be joined by Robert Colon and meningococcal disease survivor John Kach to discuss why teen vaccination is an important public health issue for the community and how influenza, meningococcal disease (including meningococcal meningitis) and pertussis (whooping cough) can spread among teens through common, everyday activities. Dr. Chulani will also discuss how vaccination can help protect teens from serious health complications.
The event will conclude with photo ops with Nick and several students who will lead by example by receiving their meningococcal meningitis vaccinations on-site.
WHY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other leading medical groups recommend vaccination for preteens and teens against influenza, meningococcal meningitis and whooping cough (pertussis). Yet vaccination rates for all three diseases among this group remain alarmingly low in Florida, where fewer than 35 percent of teens between 13 and 17 years of age have been vaccinated against meningococcal disease and whooping cough.
WHEN: Tuesday, March 16, 10:00 am – 11:00 am
WHERE: Glenridge Middle School, 2900 Upper Park Road, Orlando
