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September/October 2002 |
To protect all children from vaccine preventable diseases by raising parental awareness of
the critical need for timely infant immunizations, fostering the establishment of a systematic
method to locate and immunize children, and providing convenient access to immunization
services into the future.
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Vaccine shortages and what the federal government
can do about them was the subject of a September 17 hearing, chaired by
Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Committee’s subcommittee on Public Health. Last year’s unprecedented
shortages of five of the eight recommended childhood vaccines prompted Senators
Kennedy (D-MA), Bingaman (D-NM), Clinton (D-NY), Durbin (D-IL), Frist (R-TN)
and Reed and Congressmen Waxman (D-CA) and Condit (D-CA) to request that
the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) study the causes and make recommendations
for long-term solutions. The shortages have abated, with the exception
of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, but U.S. production capacity to maintain
a constant supply is in doubt. Did You Know? The Fifth National Conference on Immunization Coalitions: An Oasis of Ideas in Arizona has been scheduled for May 28-30, 2003 at the Westin Kierland Resort and Spa in Phoenix-Scottsdale, Arizona. For more information, click here. CDC Launches Provider Immunization Education Listserv (ImmunEd) For more information and to sign up, click here |
A series of short-term continuing resolutions
are funding the federal government and its programs until the appropriations
bills are finalized. None of the appropriations bills have been completed.
Congress is therefore deliberating on both an adjournment date prior to
the November 5 elections, and the nature of a post-election lame duck session
to settle spending bills and perhaps such measures as Homeland Security.
The Children and Hoosiers Immunization Registry
Program, CHIRP, celebrated the entry of its millionth child’s record onto
the registry on September 5, and Betty Bumpers was there to cheer them
on. Indiana’s Department of Health has made childhood immunizations
a top priority and produced remarkable results. In May the Indiana
immunization program won two CDC awards—one for showing significant improvement
in the state’s childhood immunization rates in the latest National Survey;
the other for its work with private providers to increase children’s immunization
rates.
For the complete story, please click here. This edition of the Every Child By Two Newsletter was written by Carol Ruppel and Rich Greenaway, edited by Amy Pisania, and formatted by Rich Greenaway. |
Families USA, the Center for Budget and Policy
Priorities and other groups dedicated to expanding health insurance to
cover more low-income people are reporting that federal funding for the
State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) dropped by 26 percent
in fiscal year 2002, and the situation will not improve in the next two
years. This is the anticipated “SCHIP dip.” SCHIP insures children
in families whose income is too high to be eligible for Medicaid. For the complete story, please, click here. In a press release dated October 7, 2002, the
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) announced its new policy statement recommending
ring vaccination in the event of a smallpox outbreak instead of a
universal or voluntary immunization strategy.
For the complete story, click here. Receive Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
(MMWR) FREE via Email.
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