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The Vaccinate Alaska Coalition is a non-profit organization established to promote the immunization of Alaskan citizens and residents, and the reduction of vaccine-preventable diseases in Alaska. It is composed of health care individuals and organizations, and it directs a series of programs, coalitions, and activities designed to promote immunization.
While the coalition is an apolitical non-profit, it is sponsored by the Immunization Program of the Section of Epidemiology of the Division of Public Health of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, [1] sharing office space and personnel with the program. Full voting membership is open to the public.
Each individual member and each organization affiliated with the coalition has one vote, which can be exercised at quarterly general assembly meetings. The coalition is managed by a coordinator, with an executive board composed of a president, vice-president, treasurer, and secretary.
The coalition focuses on publicizing and promoting immunizations. In addition to providing literature about immunizations to doctors and patients, the coalition provides a resource to physicians and nurses as well as health care organizations for information and concerns about vaccines. The coalition acts as a forum to encourage cooperation between the different members of the public health community in Alaska and helps coordinate efforts to expand immunization programs throughout the geographically challenging state.
The most prominent program of the VAC is the I Did It By 2 [2] [3] campaign which utilizes the popularity of the Iditarod dog sled race to promote immunization awareness. The campaign involves providing Iditarod-themed promotional supplies to health care providers and materials to parents of infants to help keep track of their child's required immunizations.
The coalition also highlights prominent members of the Alaskan health care community with the annual Excellence in Immunization Award, [4] given to recognize individuals or organizations who have demonstrated commitment to improving the immunization status of Alaska.
Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop protection from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating the body's adaptive immunity, they help prevent sickness from an infectious disease. When a sufficiently large percentage of a population has been vaccinated, herd immunity results. The effectiveness of vaccination has been widely studied and verified. Vaccination is the most effective method of preventing infectious diseases; widespread immunity due to vaccination is largely responsible for the worldwide eradication of smallpox and the elimination of diseases such as polio and tetanus from much of the world.
Immunization, or immunisation, is the process by which an individual's immune system becomes fortified against an agent.
Pulse Polio is an immunisation campaign established by the government of India to eliminate poliomyelitis (polio) in India by vaccinating all children under the age of five years against the polio virus. The project fights polio through a large-scale, pulse vaccination programme and monitoring for poliomyelitis cases. Vellore ,(Tamil Nadu) was the first Indian town to become 100% polio-free through the pulse strategy, and rest of India adopted the strategy in 1995.
Vaccine hesitancy is a reluctance or refusal to be vaccinated or to have one's children vaccinated against contagious diseases. It is identified by the World Health Organization as one of the top ten global health threats of 2019. The term encompasses outright refusal to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain about their use, or using certain vaccines but not others. Arguments against vaccination are contradicted by overwhelming scientific consensus about the safety and efficacy of vaccines.
The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), founded under the name Dissatisifed Parents Together (DPT) in 1982, is an American 501(c)(3) organization which has been widely criticized as a leading source of fearmongering and misinformation about vaccines. While NVIC describes itself as the "oldest and largest consumer led organization advocating for the institution of vaccine safety and informed consent protections", it promotes false and misleading information including the discredited claim that vaccines cause autism, and its campaigns portray vaccination as risky, encouraging people to consider "alternatives".
A vaccination schedule is a series of vaccinations, including the timing of all doses, which may be either recommended or compulsory, depending on the country of residence. A vaccine is an antigenic preparation used to produce active immunity to a disease, in order to prevent or reduce the effects of infection by any natural or "wild" pathogen.
A vaccine adverse event, sometimes referred to as a vaccine injury, is an adverse event caused by vaccination. Most vaccine adverse events are mild; serious injuries and deaths caused by vaccines are very rare, and the idea that severe events are common has been classed as a "common misconception about immunization" by the World Health Organization. Some claimed vaccine injuries are not, in fact, caused by vaccines; for example, there is a subculture of advocates who attribute their children’s autism to vaccine injury, despite the fact that vaccines do not cause autism.
Varicella vaccine, also known as chickenpox vaccine, is a vaccine that protects against chickenpox. One dose of vaccine prevents 95% of moderate disease and 100% of severe disease. Two doses of vaccine are more effective than one. If given to those who are not immune within five days of exposure to chickenpox it prevents most cases of disease. Vaccinating a large portion of the population also protects those who are not vaccinated. It is given by injection just under the skin.
The Expanded Program on Immunization(EPI) in the Philippines began in July 1979. And, in 1986, made a response to the Universal Child Immunization goal. The four major strategies include:
Vaccination policy refers to the health policy a government adopts in relation to vaccination. Vaccination policies have been developed over the approximately two centuries since the invention of vaccination with the purpose of eradicating disease from, or creating a herd immunity for the population the government aims to protect. Vaccinations are voluntary in some countries and mandatory in others, with mandatory vaccination policies sparking opposition. Some governments pay for all or part of the costs of vaccinations in a national vaccination schedule. Cost-benefit analyses of vaccinations have shown that there is an economic incentive to implement vaccination policies as vaccinations can save a significant number of lives and costs.
Rabies vaccine is a vaccine used to prevent rabies. There are a number of vaccines available that are both safe and effective. They can be used to prevent rabies before and for a period of time after exposure to the virus such as by a dog or bat bite. The immunity that develops is long lasting after a full course. Doses are usually given by injection into the skin or muscle. After exposure vaccination is typically used along with rabies immunoglobulin. It is recommended that those who are at high risk of exposure be vaccinated before potential exposure. Vaccines are effective in humans and other animals. Vaccinating dogs is very effective in preventing the spread of rabies to humans.
The Expanded Program on Immunization is a World Health Organization program with the goal to make vaccines available to all children.
VacTrAK(formally the 'Vaccination Tracking System of Alaska') is the statewide immunization registry for the State of Alaska. The web-based registry contains immunization records for all children in Alaska and it allows medical professionals throughout the state to access those records. The base software was built by Scientific Technologies Corporation (STC), and is currently used under different names by over a dozen public health departments in the United States and Canada. While preliminary testing is currently underway, statewide implementation of the program is set for the fall 2008.
Every Child By Two (ECBT) is a non-profit organization, based in the United States which advocates for vaccinations. Founded in 1991, its stated goals are to "raise awareness of the critical need for timely immunizations and to foster a systematic way to immunize all of America's children by age two." ECBT was founded by former First Lady of the United States, Rosalynn Carter, and former First Lady of Arkansas, Betty Bumpers.
Rubella vaccine is a vaccine used to prevent rubella. Effectiveness begins about two weeks after a single dose and around 95% of people become immune. Countries with high rates of immunization no longer see cases of rubella or congenital rubella syndrome. When there is a low level of childhood immunization in a population it is possible for rates of congenital rubella to increase as more women make it to child bearing age without either vaccination or exposure to the disease. Therefore, it is important for more than 80% of people to be vaccinated.
European Immunization Week (EIW) is an annual regional initiative, coordinated by the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe), to promote immunization against vaccine-preventable diseases since its launch in 2008. EIW activities are carried out by participating WHO/Europe member states. In the past these have included: disseminating informational materials about immunization, organizing immunization campaigns, organizing training sessions for health care workers, arranging workshops or conferences with political decision makers to discuss immunization, and holding press conferences about immunization-related issues.
The Vaccines for Children Program (VFC) is a federally funded program in the United States providing no-cost vaccines to children who lack health insurance or who otherwise cannot afford the cost of the vaccination. The VFC program was created by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 and is required to be a new entitlement of each state's Medicaid plan under section 1928 of the Social Security Act. The program was officially implemented in October 1994 and serves eligible children in all U.S. states, as well as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Dorit Rubinstein Reiss is a Professor of Law at UC Hastings College of Law. She has also worked for the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Israeli Ministry of Justice's Department of Public Law.
Vaccination policy in the United States refers to vaccination policy as part of the health policy adopted by various levels of the government of the United States and individual U.S. states in relation to vaccination. This policy has been developed over the approximately two centuries since the invention of vaccination with the purpose of eradicating disease from, or creating a herd immunity for the U.S. population. Policies intended to encourage vaccination impact numerous areas of law, including regulation of vaccine safety, funding of vaccination programs, vaccine mandates, adverse event reporting requirements, and compensation for injuries asserted to be associated with vaccination.
The Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) is an organization that distributes information about vaccines and the diseases they prevent. In partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), their headquarters is located in Saint Paul, Minnesota, with member coalitions in the United States and Canada. Paul Offit serves on the Advisory board.