Dear Colleagues,

Please join the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in sending a letter of support to Representatives Kim Schrier, Michael Burgess, Eliot Engel, Gus Bilirakis, Kurt Schrader and Brett Guthrie for introducing the Vaccine Awareness Campaign to Champion Immunization Nationally and Enhance Safety (VACCINES) Act of 2019. We appreciate their commitment to ensuring high vaccination rates and would like them to know they have strong support for their legislation.

2019 has seen the highest number of confirmed measles cases in the United States since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000. As of May 24, there have been 940 individual measles cases confirmed in 26 states. The recent uptick in the number of unvaccinated children around the country is largely due to a rise in the spread of vaccine misinformation and vaccine hesitancy, which the World Health Organization (WHO) deemed one of the ten biggest threats to global health in 2019. The VACCINES Act of 2019 is a critical step in combatting vaccine hesitancy and misinformation and ensuring that there is continued public awareness of the importance of vaccinations.

The VACCINES Act gives the CDC the resources it needs to understand what drives vaccine hesitancy and barriers to immunization and track where there are changes in vaccination confidence, coverage, and refusal rates. This data can then be used to predict where vaccines may be underutilized or where misinformation has been directed in a deliberate manner. It also authorizes a public campaign to target educational materials online, in the press, or in person to combat misinformation and increase both public understanding of the benefits of immunization and vaccination rates.

Please join the AAP in lending your support for the VACCINES Act. The letter is open to state and national organizations (not individuals) only. To add your organization, please complete the following form. Should you have any questions, please contact Pat Johnson at pjohnson@aap.org.

The letter is available here for your review: https://downloads.aap.org/DOFA/VACCINES%20Act%20Organization%20Sign-On%20Letter.pdf