Statewide Contest to Raise Awareness About Youth Immunizations

The Fourth Annual Protect Me With 3+ Poster and Video Contest Offers
Unique Opportunity to Engage Middle School and High School Students and
Parents on Key Vaccinations

NEWARK, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Partnership for Maternal and Child Health of Northern New Jersey, in
collaboration with the New Jersey Department of Health, today announced
the launch of the fourth annual Protect Me With 3+ poster and video
contest. The contest challenges youth in middle and high schools
throughout New Jersey to raise awareness about the importance of
adolescent immunizations: tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis
(Tdap), human papillomavirus (HPV), meningococcal conjugate and flu
vaccines. New Jersey teachers are encouraged to make the Protect Me With
3+ contest a class project.

“The Protect Me With 3+ contest allows us to engage New Jersey youth,
their parents and teachers while offering an opportunity to raise public
health awareness,” commented Ilise Zimmerman, Executive Director of
Partnership for Maternal and Child Health of Northern New Jersey. “Young
people are showing interest in preventing diseases and taking care of
their own health.”

In its fourth year, Protect Me With 3+ has expanded to include a poster
option for high school students. Prizes will be awarded to the top three
entries in the video and two poster categories. The winning entries also
have a chance to be distributed during statewide immunization awareness
activities. Prizes will also be awarded to the classrooms with the most
eligible submissions in each of the three categories.

To participate, youth must submit a video up to 30 seconds long or a
hand drawn poster integrating key facts about one adolescent vaccine by
February 4, 2016.

The top five finalists in each of the three categories will be posted on www.protectmewith3.com
for public voting in February. The winners will be announced at an award
ceremony in March.

“Vaccinating pre-teens and teens is a great way for the younger
generation to understand that vaccines are one of the best ways to stay
healthy,” said Deputy Commissioner Dr. Arturo Brito. “It’s crucial for
adolescents to be up-to-date on their vaccinations, so make sure to take
advantage of health check-ups, sports, or camp physicals to ensure all
of the recommended vaccines have been received.”

Information regarding eligibility, video and poster submission
guidelines and contest rules can be found at http://www.protectmewith3.com.

About the Partnership

The Partnership for Maternal and Child Health of Northern New Jersey is
a non-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation, licensed by the New Jersey
Department of Health (DOH). Its mission is to improve the health of
women, children, and families. The Partnership has more than 20 years of
experience mounting community-based, consumer-friendly and culturally
competent educational programs to parents, caregivers, pregnant women
and individuals of child-bearing age. For more information visit, http://partnershipmch.org.

To learn more about vaccinations, visit the New Jersey Department of
Health’s website: http://www.state.nj.us/health/cd/imm.shtml.

Contacts

Springboard Public Relations
Domenick Cilea, 732-863-1900 x202
dcilea@springboardpr.com