The American Public Health Association (A.P.H.A.)

THE NEED FOR CONTINUED AND STRENGTHENED SUPPORT FOR IMMUNIZATION PROGRAMS

The American Public Health Association,
	Knowing that through past resolutions and policy statements the Association has affirmed the importance of immunizations,
	 both in the United States and globally (Resolutions 7805, 7806, 7906, 8706, 9103); and
	Recognizing that great progress has been made in improving immunization coverage among infants and young children as a 
	result of the Childhood Immunization Initiative; and
	Recognizing that continued success in controlling vaccine-preventable diseases requires assuring that the 11,000 infants
	 born each day receive needed immunizations on schedule; and
	Noting that the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (N.V.A.C.) has recently published a report describing the strategies 
	needed to sustain success in childhood immunizations; and
	Noting that the Surgeon General on April 27, 1999 supported the establishment of a nationwide network of state/community 
	population-based immunization registries to facilitate this immunization as called for in an N.V.A.C. report; and
	Noting that the N.V.A.C. report called for a five-year federal grant program to fund development and implementation of 
	registries while a long-term financing mechanism was being developed; and
	Noting that recent issues raised regarding vaccine safety make it imperative that vaccine safety monitoring activities be
	 enhanced (immunization registries being an important component); and
	Noting further that immunization of adolescents and adults lags significantly behind progress with young children; and 
	Noting that recent cuts in federal funding for immunizations threaten the continuation of existing activities and 
	preclude the further development of registries and vaccine safety monitoring or the extension of programs to immunize 
	adolescents and adults:

1.	Reaffirms its support for immunization as one of the most cost-effective means of preventing infectious diseases;
2.	Urges the Congress to restore funding of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (C.D.C.) immunization program to
 at least the level of the 1996 appropriation;
3.	Urges C.D.C. and the Department of Health and Human Services (D.H.H.S.) to develop, and the Congress to approve, a 
legislative proposal for a five-year grant program to support development and implementation of immunization registries, as
 called for by N.V.A.C.;
4.	Urges the Congress to fund fully the Vaccine Safety Action Plan developed by the D.H.H.S. Vaccine Safety Working Group;
 and
5.	Urges C.D.C. and D.H.H.S. to develop, and the Congress to approve a legislative proposal to provide federal support for
 immunization of adolescents and adults.
6.	Urges C.D.C. and D.H.H.S. to develop and fund additional programs for outreach to those populations that remain hard to 
reach and are under-immunized.

	November 10, 1999