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Friday is the 29th National Child Vaccination¹ Awareness² Day in China. It coincides with the World Health Organization’s "World Immunization Week" and this year’s theme is “Stop Hepatitis B and Liver Cancer; Vaccinate³ at Birth.”

The World Health Organization is reminding parents of the importance of protecting children through timely immunization, especially after the birth of their babies.

The purpose of getting vaccines⁵ for my child is to prevent my daughter from being exposed to infectious diseases from other children. I think it is important.

The focus of this year’s immunization campaign is Hepatitis B, the virus that can cause liver cancer.

WHO data show everyday about 3,500 babies are born to mothers with chronic⁶ hepatitis B in China, and these babies are likely to become lifelong carriers of the hepatitis B virus. Experts say few babies suffer adverse⁷ side effects from vaccines, and staff is on hand to treat any child who has a reaction.

"Some children may get adverse reaction from getting some type of vaccines, but that ratio is fairly low, parents should not forego the chance to protect their children," said Cheng Min, Director of The CDHT Fangcao Community Health Service Center, Sichuan.

“Experts say to prevent people from being exposed to the Hepatitis B, newborns should get a timely dose of the hepatitis B vaccine⁴. This, followed by two more doses during infancy⁸, will lead to lifelong protection from the deadly virus," said reporter Liu Yang.

China has made tremendous progress on disease prevention. The WHO says the rate of hepatitis B infection has declined 90% among children under 5 years old since inoculations were introduced nation wide.

"Nowadays, getting vaccinated⁹ is the best way to protect us from getting sick, to build up a protective screen, we need to educate these children and let them know," said Qiu Jiping, physician at The CDHT Fangcao Community Health Service Center, Sichuan.

Experts say diseases such as polio, measles¹⁰, and whooping¹¹ cough have been eliminated or brought under control by vaccines in China. According to the experts from Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, they are considering whether to add vaccines for chickenpox and some flu shot to the current list of 14 vaccines now administered to children under the national program.