Help Stop Devastating Cuts to Immunization Infrastructure
July 20, 2017
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The House is moving forward on budget proposals for Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18) and has suggested a $50 million cut to immunization funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
This could mean serious reductions in our country’s and states’ abilities to:
- Support the science that informs our national immunization policy;
- Provide a safety net to uninsured, low-income adults by enabling vaccine purchases;
- Monitor the safety of vaccines;
- Educate healthcare providers;
- Perform community outreach; and
- Conduct surveillance, laboratory testing and epidemiology in response to disease outbreaks.
With the U.S. currently facing costly outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and pertussis (also known as whooping cough), now is not the time to weaken the backbone of our nation’s public health infrastructure.
We are not asking for a funding increase, we are simply asking that Congress not reduce current levels of immunization funding.
States have already had to make tough decisions because of a $4 million cut in funds in the 2017 budget.
Please call your Representative today and tell him or her:
“Please reject the proposed $50 million cut to the CDC Immunization Program and maintain level funding for FY18. A funding reduction would have serious consequences for communities across the country at a time when outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles are on the rise.”
You can also reference Every Child By Two’s State of the ImmUnion report to examine how strong our defenses truly are against vaccine-preventable diseases and what we can do, as public health advocates and legislators, to make our ImmUnion stronger and more resilient in the face of emerging health threats. You may even want to share this report with your Representative since it highlights the successes of vaccines, the economic and societal savings incurred from vaccines, challenges facing the public health system and key areas that we need to focus on to achieve optimal protection against vaccine-preventable diseases.
Please use Who Is My Representative? to quickly find your Member of Congress in the House.
Thank you for your continued support of immunizations and their critical role in protecting our health!
Updates from June 2017 Meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices
July 13, 2017
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Recently, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met to discuss several important developments concerning vaccines. As you may be aware, this impartial group of experts advises the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on all matters related to vaccine recommendations. In the coming years, the ability of the CDC and public health departments to implement the recommendations of this group may be under threat from proposed provisions within the health care reform bills and congressional budget cuts.
The activities of the ACIP are supported by staff at the CDC, which receives annual appropriations from the federal government to fulfill its duties. This federal immunization funding is at risk of being drastically cut if the Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF) is eliminated. (Click here to see a breakdown of the impact of the elimination of the PPHF funds by state.) If Congress follows the recommendation of the President, funding will be reduced by another 14% beginning in Fiscal Year (FY) 2018.
The result is that CDC may no longer be able to fully support its immunization functions including:
- ACIP staffing;
- Vaccine purchase and supply management;
- Vaccine safety monitoring;
- Education initiatives;
- Disease surveillance;
- Outbreak response; and
- Funding support for state, territory, and city immunization programs.
An example of the critical activities conducted by the CDC includes support for the ACIP. This committee of experts from diverse fields such as vaccinology, immunology, pediatrics, internal medicine, nursing, family medicine, virology, public health, infectious diseases, and\preventive medicine meets three times a year to review and discuss vaccine research and scientific data related to vaccine effectiveness and safety, clinical trial results, outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease or changes in vaccine supply.
There are 15 voting members, 8 ex officio members who represent other federal agencies with responsibility for immunization programs in the United States, and 30 non-voting representatives of liaison organizations that bring related immunization expertise. All members volunteer their time and come from many leading professional and public organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, and the American Geriatrics Society. This is the only meeting to gather such a comprehensive group of experts whose aim it is to protect individual and public health.
The current health care reform discussions that are happening in Congress may have a direct impact on this Committee. Please continue to reach out to your Representatives and Senators to let them know the importance of keeping PPHF and CDC fully funded. (You can find your Members of Congress at http://whoismyrepresentative.com/ and some suggestive language to share here.)
The value of the ACIP can not be overstated. During their most recent committee meeting in June, members discussed several important issues recapped in the summary below.
Every Child By Two Delivers Critical Message to Legislators
June 27, 2017
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Every Child By Two will also be making a special presentation on Capitol Hill today, alongside experts from the CDC, AAP and Children’s National Health System.
The panelists will discuss concerns regarding the vaccine-preventable diseases that continue to infect American children and debunk misinformation about vaccine safety. Every Child By Two’s Executive Director, Amy Pisani, will explain the impact that proposed cuts in vaccine funding and changes to the healthcare replacement bills will have on efforts to protect the American public from deadly preventable diseases.
Please contact your legislators and suggest they attend this special Childhood Immunization Presentation at 2322 Rayburn House Office Building between 3-4 pm today, June 27th. (You can also tune into Facebook Live by following the Vaccinate Your Family Facebook page where we have provided live feed coverage of the meeting).
Given the continuing discussions on health care reform, Every Child By Two believes it is more important than ever to re-circulate their State of the ImmUnion report to our nation’s legislators. This report details our country’s current abilities to control and respond to vaccine-preventable diseases.
It’s important that legislators understand that preserving funds for the Vaccines For Children (VFC) program was an important first step in protecting the nation against deadly infectious diseases, but it’s not enough. Proposed funding cuts to Medicaid, the Prevention and Public Health Fund (PPHF), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would:
- Directly cause the understaffing and potential closure of health clinics across the country.
- Prevent pregnant women from accessing crucial vaccines to prevent whooping cough and flu in their newborns. About half of babies younger than one year of age who contract whooping cough need care in the hospital, and 1 out of 100 babies who get treatment in the hospital die. Additionally, in the 2016-2017 influenza season, 101 children died as a result of the flu.
- Place adults at risk of vaccine-preventable disease. Influenza and pneumonia, both of which are vaccine-preventable, are currently the eighth most common cause of death among adults in the U.S. Treatment of adults for influenza, pneumonia, pertussis and influenza costs the U.S. $27 billion annually in unnecessary healthcare costs.
- Reduce the management of the $4.3 billion investment in government-purchased vaccines for children. Administration of the VFC program is funded by Section 317 dollars which are subject to significant cuts in funding.
Ongoing outbreaks of measles, whooping cough, and flu are stark reminders that even small drops in vaccination rates can have devastating consequences.
This is why Every Child By Two is taking steps to encourage federal legislators to put the health of our nation first by fully funding CDC, replacing the PPHF, and maintaining a strong safety net through the preservation of Medicaid.
101 Empty Chairs
June 23, 2017
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By Serese Marotta, Chief Operating Officer, Families Fighting Flu
Sadly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have reported that the 2016/2017 flu season has now claimed the lives of more than 100 children. 101 to be exact. This statistic is hauntingly familiar – three of the past five flu seasons also claimed the lives of more than 100 children.
Sometimes we forget what these numbers really mean.
It means that 101 families had to bury their beloved children; 101 families have to listen to the deafening sound of silence left by their lost loved ones; and 101 families now have empty chairs at their dinner tables every night.
I paint this picture because I know how these families feel. They’re probably thinking the same thing I did after my son died from the flu – how did this happen and what could I have done to prevent it?
Unfortunately, unless flu has personally touched your family like it has mine, chances are you’re not all that worried about flu. You may even think it’s just a bad cold. Well, as the mother of a child who lost her five-year old son to flu, I’m here to tell you, “Not so“.
According to the CDC, flu kills more Americans every year – up to 56,000 people – than any other vaccine-preventable disease. Since 2004, when the CDC started reporting pediatric flu deaths, 1,466 children – many of whom were otherwise healthy – have lost their lives to flu.
Flu is that infectious disease that seems to fly under the radar. While everyone is focused on the latest outbreak of measles, mumps, pertussis or meningitis, flu is that one disease that we know we will have an outbreak of each and every year. As prevalent as flu is, it still manages to creep up like a quiet thief in the night, stealing our loved ones right out from under our noses. And yet when it does, we wonder why we never saw it coming. Flu has killed millions of people worldwide – and it will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
So what can we do to protect ourselves and our loved ones from influenza each year? Annual vaccination.
Studies show that flu vaccination can reduce the likelihood of death and hospitalization from flu in people of all ages. Yet, less than half of Americans get their annual flu vaccine. Read more…
How My Sister Helped Save My Daughter From Whooping Cough
June 19, 2017
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By Tamara Sheffield, MD, MPA, MPH, Medical Director, Community Health and Prevention, Intermountain Healthcare
In my role as a medical director at Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, Utah, I am responsible for Community Health and Prevention. You could say that I’m a professional advocate for immunizations, since they prevent many illnesses, hospitalizations and even deaths. In fact, maternal immunizations are one of today’s most promising new preventive health strategies.
By vaccinating pregnant women against certain diseases – like whooping cough (pertussis) and influenza – we are reducing the amount of illness, hospitalization, miscarriage and pre-term labor these women experience as a result of these diseases.
Additionally, maternal vaccines enable pregnant women to pass on protective antibodies to their unborn babies. These antibodies provide newborns with early, short-term protection against pertussis or flu, during the time when they are too young to receive their own vaccines to prevent these diseases.
For instance, children must be six months of age before they can receive their first flu vaccination, and the DTaP vaccine, which helps prevent whooping cough in children, is administered as a series of five shots (with doses at 2, 4, 6, 15-18 months, and 4-6 years of age). Sadly, there are about 100 pediatric deaths due to influenza each year, and 90% of all deaths associated with whooping cough are among infants, mostly because the thick mucus that accompanies the infection has a severe impact on a baby’s ability to breath.
For an expectant woman, changes in the immune system, heart and lungs during pregnancy make them more prone to illness. When a pregnant women gets ill, it raises her risk of complications, such as premature labor and delivery. But research shows that mothers can help protect themselves and their babies by getting vaccinated during pregnancy.
The flu vaccine is recommended at any trimester of each pregnancy. An adult Tdap booster vaccine is recommended during each pregnancy as well – and studies show that the best time for optimal transfer of protective antibodies is at 27-to-36 weeks gestation. The ongoing research continues to indicate that these maternal immunizations are effective at reducing the number of flu and whooping cough-related illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths among infants.
The abundance of scientific evidence on this matter is one reason I am a strong advocate for maternal vaccinations. However, I have a very personal reason to advocate for maternal vaccinations as well.
You see, I know an amazing 25-year-old young woman who nearly died from whooping cough when she was just three weeks old.
Like many infants who suffer with whooping cough, this beautiful baby girl contracted it from a family member. During the weeks before delivery, her mother developed a persistent cough that went undiagnosed, and she unknowingly passed whooping cough on to her baby. Three weeks later, after a couple of incidents where the baby stopped breathing and turned blue, her parents rushed her to the hospital. Read more…
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Contact Your Senator to Prevent Devastating Cuts to Immunization Programs
June 15, 2017
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Every Child By Two has a long history of advocating for immunization funding and strong immunization policies. As the Senate is now considering two crucial pieces of legislation — the American Health Care Act (AHCA) and the Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 budget — we are calling upon the public to speak out in support of #PreventionProtection. Both of these pieces of legislation could impact vaccine programs in a way that limits access for millions of Americans.
It is critical that we help Senators understand the impact of their legislation on public and individual health before they finalize the bill language. Time is of the essence, so we are encouraging everyone to take action this week.
Please call AND email your Senators TODAY with this critical message:
Call your Senators to say:
I am a constituent and am calling to urge Senator X to ensure CDC’s immunization programs continue to be fully funded, both through direct appropriations and through preservation of the Prevention and Public Health Fund.
It is also critical to preserve first dollar coverage in private health plans and Medicaid. Coverage for vaccines is critical to our nation’s health and integral to accessing cost-saving and potentially life-saving vaccines.
Please support public health funding and oppose any aspects of the American Health Care Act which would slash these critical investments.
To ensure your Senator is getting the message, follow-up with an email that reads:
What Parents of Every Teen Should Know About Meningitis
June 2, 2017
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The most important thing parents of teens need to know about meningococcal disease is that it can be very serious. And by serious, we mean debilitating and often deadly.
Even with prompt medical treatment, about 1 in 10 people with meningococcal disease will die from it. Of those who survive, about 1 to 2 will have permanent disabilities such as brain damage, hearing loss, loss of kidney function or limb amputations.
The best thing parents can do to protect their children from meningococcal disease is to get them vaccinated against all of the preventable forms of the disease.
What causes meningitis and meningococcal disease?
Meningitis refers to a swelling of the protective membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord. While meningitis is commonly caused by a bacterial or viral infection, it can also be caused by injuries, cancer, certain drugs, and other types of infections.
Meningococcal disease is specific to any illness caused by the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis (also referred to as meningococcus or meningococcal meningitis). These types of infections can cause meningitis, but can also cause bloodstream infections (known as bacteremia or septicemia).
It’s possible to have meningitis without having meningococcal disease, and it’s possibly to have a type of meningococcal disease that isn’t necessarily meningitis. The specific cause of illness is important to identify because the treatment differs depending on the cause.
- Bacterial forms of meningitis can be extremely dangerous and fast-moving and have the greatest potential for being fatal. The long-term effects of bacterial meningitis can include multiple amputations, hearing loss and kidney damage. Many, but not all, forms of bacterial meningitis can be prevented by vaccination.
- Viral meningitis has similar symptoms to bacterial meningitis, but for the most part is neither as deadly nor as debilitating. There is no specific treatment available for viral meningitis, but most patients fully recover over time.
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