Child advocates call on members of Congress to hold the Department of Health and Human Services accountable for protecting children from vaccine-preventable illnesses and urge them to speak out against misinformation on vaccines.
Childhood vaccination rates are already declining. Recent actions to remove vaccines from the childhood immunization schedule threaten to further reduce vaccination rates, jeopardizing children’s health.
Support the Family Vaccine Protection Act (H.R. 3701 / S. 3323)
The Family Vaccine Protection Act would ensure ACIP and the CDC continue to make evidence-based recommendations on childhood vaccinations by codifying the way vaccine recommendations were reviewed and amended prior to this Administration. This bill codifies a rigorous, science-based system for recommending vaccines and strengthens the independence of ACIP by setting its structure into statute, preventing interference by CDC and HHS. This bill requires the HHS Secretary to adopt the official vaccine decision as set by ACIP — and if the Secretary chooses to depart from an ACIP recommendation, it requires the Secretary to publish the basis for the agency action, including an explanation as to how the action is supported by the best available, peer-reviewed scientific evidence.
