About ECBT
The Birth of ECBT
Every Child By Two (ECBT) was founded by Rosalynn Carter and Betty Bumpers in 1991 as a result of the Measles epidemic that killed nearly 150 people. Carter and Bumpers have been working on immunizations since their husbands were governors in the early 70’s and have been credited with the passage of laws mandating school-age vaccination requirements. The goals of ECBT are to raise awareness of the critical need for timely immunizations and to foster a systematic way to immunize all of America’s children by age two. To forward its agenda, ECBT enlists the support of elected officials and their spouses, concerned community leaders, and representatives of many national organizations.
ECBT works in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct educational programs for healthcare providers. We work with immunization partners nationwide to educate those who effect policy decisions regarding immunizations and to seek funding for state immunization programs. The cofounders of ECBT travel throughout the nation to highlight the need for continued vigilance to ensure that the 11,000 babies born every day receive life saving vaccines in a timely manner.
ECBT focuses much of its efforts to ensure that electronic immunization registries are fully developed and implemented throughout our country. We have visited dozens of states to encourage state department of health and gubernatorial support of registries, increased federal and state funding, and to provide guidance regarding a variety of programmatic and political issues. CDC’s National Immunization Program (now NCIRD) looks to ECBT as one of the leading registry-support organizations and depends on us to promote registries to the general public and the private provider community. We have served on several task forces over the years with the goal of insuring the stability of the systems, securing federal and state funding, insuring the privacy and confidentiality of the systems, developing model state authorization laws, and encouraging private providers to participate.
ECBT served on the task force with the Department of Agriculture to reestablish collaborations between the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), who serve nearly half of the nation’s children, and immunization programs nationwide.
Every Child By Two has assisted in the development of programs and coalitions throughout the nation that seek to increase immunization coverage rates. We are well respected for our ability to mobilize grassroots campaigns, affect state and federal public policy, and execute programs that have lasting positive effects on the nation’s public health system.
If you wish to invite ECBT to visit your program, please contact ECBT Staff. We may be reached by phone, fax, email or regular mail.
Phone: (202) 783-7034
Fax: (202) 783-7042
Email: info@ecbt.org
Regular Mail:
Every Child By Two
666 11th Street NW, Suite 202
Washington, DC 20001-4542
Click here for a listing of ECBT Board of Directors.