Report: 300,000 San Diego County Teens Weren't Current With Vaccinations in 2009-2010

Vaccinations

About 300,000 teenagers in San Diego County were not current with their vaccinations, according to survey data from 2009-10, the county's Health and Human Services Agency reported Friday.

The figures were released in advance of Preteen Vaccine Week, Feb. 12-18.

The highest vaccination rate was 81 percent for chickenpox. About half of the region's female adolescents received shots for human papillomavirus, or HPV, and immunizations are now required for males, too.

The HHSA reported 47 percent of teens had their meningitis and pertussis shots, and 30 percent were vaccinated for influenza.

"These adolescent diseases can be prevented," said Dr. Wilma Wooten, the county public health officer. "Vaccinating your children is the best line of defense."

Wooten said everyone 6 months and older should receive an annual flu shot. Two doses of flu vaccine are recommended for children 8 years and younger who are receiving it for the first time, otherwise only one dose is recommended, she said.

Two doses of chickenpox vaccine are recommended for unvaccinated adolescents who have not had the disease, according to the HHSA.

Students need to show proof they received the pertussis booster shot before starting school, beginning in the seventh grade.

Theft at Cemetery

Authorities asked the public Friday for help in identifying a pair of thieves who stole a purse from the parked car of a woman visiting her daughter's grave at a North County cemetery and assumed her identity to buy a computer.

The theft at Eternal Hills Memorial Park in Oceanside happened late in the afternoon of Jan. 12, according to police.

Two days later, an unidentified man and woman used the 51-year-old victim's stolen checkbook and identification to make a purchase at an Apple Store in the 200 block of East Via Rancho Parkway in Escondido, Lt. Leonard Mata said.

A surveillance camera in the shop capture indistinct images of the thieves, showing a balding white man in a red, black and white striped shirt and a dark-haired woman in dark clothing.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call San Diego County Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477. Tipsters may remain anonymous and could be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.

Griffin O'Neal Facing Sentence

The eldest son of actor Ryan O'Neal Saturday was facing at a 16-month prison sentence for driving under the influence of drugs and causing an Aug. 2 head-on collision in North County.

Griffin O'Neal, 47, pleaded guilty in November to driving under the influence of drugs and causing injury, and being a felon in possession of a gun. He also admitted to a 1992 conviction for shooting his ex-girlfriend's car.

In Friday's sentencing, Judge Eugenia Eyherabide used her judicial discretion to ignore the 1992 felony conviction for the purpose of sentencing, saying that it was 20 years old.

Eyherabide gave O'Neal a choice: 365 days in jail and have a suspended prison sentence of nearly three years, or 80 percent of a 16-month sentence. O'Neal chose the latter.

O'Neal was on probation for a 2007 DUI conviction when the collision occurred about 1 p.m. near San Diego Safari Park. He was not arrested until about a month later.

Defense attorney Heather Boxeth said O'Neal's behavior was "inexcusable" and told the judge he had serious substance-abuse problems.

O'Neal was scheduled to be sentenced last month, but missed the court date because he had checked himself into an addiction treatment center after bailing out of jail on a misdemeanor battery charge involving his wife.

When O'Neal came to court the next day, Eyherabide told him he could stay at treatement center until sentencing.

In court Friday, O'Neal apologized to Sergio Reveles, the driver he crashed into.  Reveles suffered a back injury in the wreck.

"I really do want to make him whole again," O'Neal said.

Prosecutor Vanessa DuVall said toxicology tests detected metabolites O'Neal had methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana and Xanax. Two guns and ammunition for both were found in O'Neal's car, she said.

O'Neal was also convicted of DUI in 1990, DuVall said.

Boxeth told a judge last year that O'Neal was driving to see his half- brother, 26-year-old Redmond O'Neal, when the accident happened.

In 1987, Griffin O'Neal, whose mother was the late actress Joanna Cook Moore, also mother to Tatum O'Neal, was given probation in a boating accident that killed Gian Carlo Coppola, son of director Francis Ford Coppola. His acting career includes 11 movies from 1976-1992.

-City News Service