 
Rosalynn Carter, Betty Bumpers, the Staff and Board of Directors of Every Child By Two would like to wish each of you a safe and happy holiday season and a joyous new year! |
|
November/December 2001 |
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.
Do you want to take this home to read? Click
here for a text only version.
|
On November 1 and 12, the House Government Reform
Committee a held two-part hearing on the National Vaccine Injury Compensation
Program. The purpose was to hear witnesses who feel they've been
unfairly treated by the program, government officials who defend the program
but welcome recommendations to improve it, and the chairman of the advisory
commission that oversees the program.
On December 14, 2001, the CDC published a "Notice to Readers: Revised
ACIP Recommendation for Avoiding Pregnancy After
Office Update The offices of Every Child By Two will be closed from December 24, 2001 through December 28, 2001 and on January 1, 2002 for the holidays.  |
Today (December 18) House and Senate conferees
are negotiating a final agreement on the conference report that will determine
appropriations for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services
and Education for the rest of fiscal year 2002 that ends on September 30.
The conferees agreed to fund the National Immunization Program at $628
million. This represents a total increase of $76 million. The
House had requested an increase of $47 million; the Senate, $84.5
million, so the compromise is good news for immunization advocates.
Worth Repeating... It's not too late to register for the Fourth National Conference on
Immunization Coalitions that will be held in San Antonio, Texas from January
9 - 11, 2002. The deadline for preregistration ($125) has been extended
to December 24th.
On December 7 the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)
voted to temporarily revise recommendations for the pneumococcal conjugate
vaccine and to continue previously issued DTaP recommendations.
|
Senator Kennedy (D-MA) opened the Health, Education,
Labor and Pensions Committee November 27 hearing on the readiness of the
National Immunization Program for handling "new public health challenges"
sounding a familiar note. "Our concerns about bioterrorism have also
reminded us of the overall importance of immunization, one of the great
public health victories of the 20th century." "We must be vigilant,
however, to preserve these successes. If we fail to appreciate the
value of vaccines or become complacent in our immunization efforts, we
could witness sudden new epidemics.." Kennedy then turned over
his chairman's gavel to Senator Reed (D-RI). Reed has been a dedicated
immunization proponent in the Senate who has sponsored legislation broadening
access and increasing federal funding.
Receive Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) FREE via Email. Sign up here. This edition of the Every Child By Two Newsletter was written and edited by Amy Pisani, Carol Ruppel, and Rich Greenaway, and formatted by Rich Greenaway.  |
|
Return to Every Child By Two |