[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2443 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2443

     To increase immunization funding and provide for immunization 
                infrastructure and delivery activities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 13, 2000

    Mr. Durbin (for himself, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Reed, and Mrs. Murray) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
          Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To increase immunization funding and provide for immunization 
                infrastructure and delivery activities.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``State Immunization Funding and 
Infrastructure Act''.

SEC. 2. INCREASE IN IMMUNIZATION FUNDING.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) vaccines protect children and adults against serious 
        and potentially fatal diseases;
            (2) society saves up to $24 in medical and societal costs 
        for every dollar spent on vaccines;
            (3) every day, 11,000 babies are born--4,000,000 each 
        year--and each child needs up to 19 doses of vaccine by age 2;
            (4) approximately 1,000,000 2-year-olds have not received 
        all of the recommended vaccine doses;
            (5) the immunization program under section 317(j)(1) under 
        the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247b(j)(1)), 
        administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
        provides grants to States and localities for critical 
        activities including immunization registries, outbreak control, 
        provider education, outreach efforts, and linkages with other 
        public health and welfare services;
            (6) Federal grants to States and localities for these 
        activities have declined from $271,000,000 in 1995 to 
        $139,000,000 in 2000;
            (7) because of these funding reductions States are 
        struggling to maintain immunization rates and have implemented 
        severe cuts to immunization delivery activities;
            (8) even with significant gains in national immunization 
        rates, underimmunized children still exist and there are a 
        number of subpopulations where coverage rates remain low and 
        are actually declining;
            (9) rates in many of the Nation's urban areas, including 
        Chicago and Houston, are unacceptably low; and
            (10) these pockets of need create pools of susceptible 
        children and increase the risk of dangerous disease outbreaks.
    (b) Increase in Immunization Funding.--
            (1) In general.--There are authorized to be appropriated to 
        carry out programs under section 317(j)(1) of the Public Health 
        Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247b(j)(1)), $615,000,000 for fiscal 
        year 2001.
            (2) Infrastructure and delivery.--Of the amount 
        appropriated under paragraph (1), $214,000,000 shall be made 
        available to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to 
        carry out immunization infrastructure and delivery activities, 
        including providing targeted support for immunization project 
        areas with low immunization rates or that contain areas of need 
        that are particularly susceptible to disease outbreaks.
            (3) Vaccine purchase.--Of the amount appropriated under 
        paragraph (1), $199,883 shall be made available to the 
        Secretary of Health and Human Services for the purchase of 
        domestically licensed and recommended vaccines.
                                 <all>