Groups Work to Boost Support for Vaccines

Abstract

CONCERNED ABOUT PUBLIC SKEPTIcismregardingthesafetyofchildhood vaccines, a skepticism exacerbated by misinformation on the Internet and from other sources, members of the medical and public health communities are launching a coordinated effort to bolster public support of childhood immunizations. The Immunization Alliance, an organization that includes the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association, Parents of Kids with Infectious Diseases, the March of Dimes, and several other groups, issued a call to action in September urging policymakers, public health officials, physicians, and the public to join in an effort to boost confidence in childhood vaccines. “The groups in this Alliance have made a commitment to pool our resources and expertise and to ask the government to help avert what could become a national emergency,” said AAP President Renee Jenkins, MD, in a statement. “We want to impress upon the public the possible consequences— safety, medical, personal, and economic issues—of having a population that is not adequately protected against measles, whooping cough, meningitis, and many other diseases.”