This Month in History, August: Flu vaccines, polio, and National Immunization Awareness Month
Learn more about National Immunization Awareness Month and other events.
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This Month in History
August: National Immunization Awareness Month
August 25, 2004 Bacterial contamination is discovered in a batch of flu vaccines.
Over 40 million expected vaccines were declared unsafe for use, causing a vaccine shortage in the United States. August 1991 A five-year-old boy from Pichanaki, Peru, contracts what is thought to be the last case of indigenous polio in the Western Hemisphere.
The Western Hemisphere was declared to be totally free of the virus in 1994.
August 2013 National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM) is recognized for the first time.
Established by the National Public Health Information Coalition and later coordinated by the Centers for Disease Control, the observation was intended to educate families on how vaccines can protect their children.
August 25, 2004 Bacterial contamination is discovered in a batch of flu vaccines.
Over 40 million expected vaccines were declared unsafe for use, causing a vaccine shortage in the United States. August 1991 A five-year-old boy from Pichanaki, Peru, contracts what is thought to be the last case of indigenous polio in the Western Hemisphere.
The Western Hemisphere was declared to be totally free of the virus in 1994.
August 2013 National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM) is recognized for the first time.
Established by the National Public Health Information Coalition and later coordinated by the Centers for Disease Control, the observation was intended to educate families on how vaccines can protect their children.