McNeil heads immunization program

McNeil Consumer Products Company, the makers of Tylenol,® launched a national immunization education program for health care providers and parents during National Infant Immunization Week, April 20-26.

The Fort Washington, PA-based company distributed immunization schedule posters to more than 16,000 pediatricians and related health care providers around the country. The schedule, approved by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Academy of Pediatrics, recommends immunizing children against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, mumps, measles, polio, rubella, hepatitis B, chicken pox and Haemophilus influenza type B.

The most common side effects of immunizations are fever, pain or redness at the site of the injections, fussiness, tenderness and swelling.

The company also encouraged parents to order free immunization education materials. Its new booklet "Your Child's Immunizations" is one of several in the company's ongoing KidCare Guide series.

Nearly 76% of toddlers in the United State received recommended immunizations in 1995, according to the U.S. Centers of Disease Control. The national goal is to raise that number to 90% by the year 2000. PR