Every Child By Two Delivers Critical Message to Legislators
Jun 27, 2017
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.
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