Gov. Bobby Jindal proclaims Pneumonia Awareness Week in La.

(AP) — Gov. Bobby Jindal has proclaimed this week Pneumonia Awareness Week in Louisiana, to encourage people to ask their doctors whether they should get the pneumonia vaccine. State Health Officer Jimmy Guidry says pneumonia is a common cause of death even though it can be prevented by vaccine, and is a common complication of both seasonal and swine flu.

He says the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that pneumonia has been involved in about one-fifth of the nation's deaths related to swine flu.

And children under the age of 2 can get one pneumonia vaccine. That age is also a high-risk group for H1N1 flu. And, while children less than six months old cannot get any kind of flu vaccine, those between two and six months old can get the PCV7 pneumonia vaccination.



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