Former President John F. Kennedy was strong supporter of vaccination. During the early 1960’s while he was in office, he created the Vaccine Assistance Act of 1962. This bill would provide vaccination programs for children all across the United States. This effort of JFK’s to help protect children from diseases is now known by health experts as “one of the most successful prevention programs in public health” (Conis 21). His drive to enact this bill promoted the federal government 's involvement in vaccinations and slingshot the legislatures and laws we have today. With the goal of the government to protect communities from disease with vaccination, they needed a way to control how children were getting vaccinated by still adhering to a person
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Three presidents from 1960 to 2000 have been known as someone who did well in the road to vaccinating americans for their wellbeing. John F Kennedy was known for the first act involving funding and support for vaccinations. The Vaccine Assistance Act would set “a new foundation for federal immunization policy and set a precedent for federal involvement in vaccination promotion that subsequent Democratic administrations would mimic and expand upon” (Conis 20-21). And that is exactly what following Democratic administrations did. The Carter Administration developed the Childhood Immunization Initiative in 1977. During a time when the nation had a “struggling economy, oil crisis, and rising healthcare costs” the promotion that “the shots were cheap and the diseases [were] pricy” was the best selling point that Carter could have put forth (Conis 87). With the promotion that these inexpensive shots would be saving the nation money on helping others with these deadly diseases encourages parents to vaccinate their children for the economic outcome of it all. This emphasized individual moral responsibility of citizens to improve the declining state of the nation. A huge media campaign helped with the promotion of these vaccines. As a result of all of the efforts put into Carter’s act, by 1980 96% of all children had been vaccinated against diphtheria, pertussis, polio, …show more content…
W. Bush and Ronald Reagan administrations weren’t as concerned with the vaccine funding as the last democratic president. Because of this the funding for vaccines decreased and the cost of vaccines increased. The results of this were declining rates in vaccinated children which assisted in the 1989 Measles outbreak. This outbreak infected 50,000, hospitalized 11,000 and killed 150 children. Following this was the Clinton administration which brought back good vaccination number from the Comprehensive Child Immunization Act of 1993. This act focused on immunizing preschoolers and looking at vaccination as a civil right, not duty. From this act, Clinton promised “lower vaccines prices extended public clinic hours, reaching out to more parents, and setting up a national tracking system” (Conis 161). Because of this act and all that came from it, it was reported in 2000 that the United States had one of the highest rates of
Three presidents from 1960 to 2000 have been known as someone who did well in the road to vaccinating americans for their wellbeing. John F Kennedy was known for the first act involving funding and support for vaccinations. The Vaccine Assistance Act would set “a new foundation for federal immunization policy and set a precedent for federal involvement in vaccination promotion that subsequent Democratic administrations would mimic and expand upon” (Conis 20-21). And that is exactly what following Democratic administrations did. The Carter Administration developed the Childhood Immunization Initiative in 1977. During a time when the nation had a “struggling economy, oil crisis, and rising healthcare costs” the promotion that “the shots were cheap and the diseases [were] pricy” was the best selling point that Carter could have put forth (Conis 87). With the promotion that these inexpensive shots would be saving the nation money on helping others with these deadly diseases encourages parents to vaccinate their children for the economic outcome of it all. This emphasized individual moral responsibility of citizens to improve the declining state of the nation. A huge media campaign helped with the promotion of these vaccines. As a result of all of the efforts put into Carter’s act, by 1980 96% of all children had been vaccinated against diphtheria, pertussis, polio, …show more content…
W. Bush and Ronald Reagan administrations weren’t as concerned with the vaccine funding as the last democratic president. Because of this the funding for vaccines decreased and the cost of vaccines increased. The results of this were declining rates in vaccinated children which assisted in the 1989 Measles outbreak. This outbreak infected 50,000, hospitalized 11,000 and killed 150 children. Following this was the Clinton administration which brought back good vaccination number from the Comprehensive Child Immunization Act of 1993. This act focused on immunizing preschoolers and looking at vaccination as a civil right, not duty. From this act, Clinton promised “lower vaccines prices extended public clinic hours, reaching out to more parents, and setting up a national tracking system” (Conis 161). Because of this act and all that came from it, it was reported in 2000 that the United States had one of the highest rates of