Basketball Superstars Encourage Local Teens To Stay In The Game And Get Vaccinated

Published on May 27, 2010 under Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
San Antonio Stars News Release


Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Lanier along with San Antonio Silver Stars guard and Vaccines for Teens spokesperson Helen Darling teamed up with NBA Cares and the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM) today to bring Vaccines for Teens to the San Antonio community. Vaccines for Teens is a national awareness campaign designed to educate teens and their parents about the importance of vaccination against serious and potentially life-threatening diseases.

To tip off the campaign locally, Lanier and Darling appeared at Martin Luther King Academy in San Antonio, Texas to urge parents of preteens and teens to discuss adolescent vaccinations with their family physicians.

Teens are at risk for influenza, including seasonal strains and the pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus, as well as other serious infectious diseases such as meningococcal disease (including meningitis) and whooping cough (pertussis). The basketball superstars and local community leaders agree that because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other leading medical groups recommend vaccination for preteens and teens against influenza, meningococcal disease, whooping cough and human papillomavirus (HPV), it is now more important than ever to help protect preteens and teens in the San Antonio area from potentially life-threatening complications of these diseases.

"Vaccination can help teens grow into healthy adults, and is beneficial for the students at Martin Luther King Academy and for teens throughout the San Antonio area," said Darling. "In basketball, the best offense is a good defense, and the same holds true for protecting teen health."

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Women's National Basketball Association Stories from May 27, 2010


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