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Vaccines for Teens Work Somewhat
Illinois is seeing mixed results in terms of vaccinations newly recommended for teenagers.

The Centers for Disease Control says 59 percent of Illinois teenagers have been inoculated for whooping cough, 53 percent against meningitis and 34 percent against HPV -- numbers that are, respectively, ahead of, even with and behind the national average.

The vaccination rates are slightly higher in Chicago than in the rest of Illinois.

Dr. Jane Seward, a pediatrician and deputy director of the Division of Viral Diseases in the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, says these rates are low, "but remember, these vaccines are fairly recently recommended for teens, just in the last two to four years," she said. "I agree [the rates are low], but they've all been improving a lot from year to year."

Seward says the vaccines are available, but parents must be educated that teenagers should get them.

The traditional childhood vaccines -- Hepatitis B, chicken pox, and measles mumps and rubella -- are all administered at rates over 90 percent. That is the goal for these vaccines.

Meanwhile, a dozen cases of whooping cough have been confirmed in Tazewell County over the last six weeks. Winnebago County reported an outbreak of 33 whooping cough cases in May.

(Illinois Radio Network)
08 30 10 by Newsroom
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