2010 National Vaccine Plan Fact Sheet

Overview

The National Vaccine Plan is the nation’s roadmap for a 21st century vaccine and immunization enterprise. It includes strategies for advancing vaccine research and development, financing, supply, distribution, safety, global cooperation, and informed decision-making among consumers and health care providers. The National Vaccine Plan consists of two phases: a strategic plan with overall goals and objectives to achieve over a 10-year period, and an implementation plan with measurable outcomes and processes to achieve the goals of the plan.

The goal of the strategic National Vaccine Plan is to prevent infectious diseases and reduce adverse reactions to vaccines in the United States by providing policy and scientific direction with measurable outcomes. It does so through coordinated implementation by vaccine and immunization stakeholders, including federal, state and local policymakers, health care providers, manufacturers, academia, the philanthropic sector, and consumers.

Description of the Plan

The plan is the first update of the nation’s vaccine strategy since the original strategy was issued in 1994. Through collaboration across federal agencies, the plan incorporates broad public and stakeholder input, including recommendations from the Institute of Medicine and the National Vaccine Advisory Committee.

The plan aims to achieve five broad goals:

• Goal 1: Develop new and improved vaccines.
• Goal 2: Enhance understanding of the safety of vaccines and the safety of vaccination practices.
• Goal 3: Support informed vaccine decision-making by the public, providers and policymakers.
• Goal 4: Ensure a stable supply of, access to, and better use of recommended vaccines in the United States.
• Goal 5: Increase global prevention of death and disease through safe and effective vaccination.

This strategic plan is also the basis for an implementation plan, which will define specific actions and targets to be achieved across a 10-year horizon, and will include steps to monitor progress in accomplishing these goals. As implementation of the plan proceeds, new vaccine-related initiatives, such as improved regulatory science, medical countermeasures for emergencies, national prevention benefits, and global health partnerships will be incorporated in the nation’s vaccine strategy.

Next Steps

Next steps include a series of meetings across the nation, organized with the help of HHS regional health advisors, to identify priorities and work with stakeholders on developing the implementation plan that is national in scope.