[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 16 (Monday, April 25, 1994)]
[Pages 854-855]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6675--National Infant Immunization Week

April 20, 1994

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    One of my Georgetown University professors, Otto Hentz, S.J., has 
written, ``There is no greater gesture of trust than when children 
expectantly thrust their arms up in the air, telling us in the universal 
language of toddlers, `Pick me up.' And when we follow this command, we 
witness the complete serenity of children, their perfect trust that they 
will

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not be dropped. This is an astonishing vote of confidence. . . .''
    To guarantee that our children's faith in us is justified, we must 
renew our commitment to protect them from deadly infectious diseases. 
Unfortunately, less than two-thirds of American children under age 2 
have received all the immunizations they need. In some inner city and 
rural areas, vaccination rates are much lower than in more urban 
communities. The unnecessary illnesses resulting from this failure are a 
health disaster and a human tragedy.
    To prevent suffering and to save lives, my Administration has taken 
new steps to protect our youngest children. In April 1993, I submitted 
to the Congress the ``Comprehensive Child Immunization Act,'' 
significant portions of which were enacted into law last year. In 
addition, our Childhood Immunization Initiative is the most sweeping 
childhood immunization plan in American history. This proposal includes 
free vaccines for needy children, increased funding to cities and States 
to improve the service delivery infrastructure, enhanced disease 
detection and immunization monitoring systems, and an aggressive 
national outreach program.
    This Initiative will mobilize every community to practice disease 
prevention on a grand scale. It will allow us to increase vaccination 
levels for 2-year-old children from the current 64 percent to at least 
90 percent and to build a vaccine delivery system that will maintain 
these achievements within a reformed health care system.
    Adults responsible for safeguarding our youngest children must be 
made aware of the seriousness of this problem. Many parents do not 
realize that more than 80 percent of all recommended vaccinations should 
be given before a child is 2 years old--long before he or she begins 
school. We must make sure that every parent is informed that between the 
ages of 2 months and 2 years of age their children will require five 
visits to a doctor or clinic to assure their proper immunization. 
Doctors must also help by educating the public about the importance of 
immunizations and by making sure that the children under their care are 
monitored carefully to ensure full protection.
    Last year, I proclaimed the last week of April as National Preschool 
Immunization Week. This year, as part of the effort to focus greater 
attention on the need to immunize children before their second birthday, 
I have changed the name of the observance to National Infant 
Immunization Week.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim the last 
full week of April 1994 and in all succeeding years as National Infant 
Immunization Week. I call upon all Americans, especially parents and 
health care providers, to do their part to help in this crucial effort 
and to observe this week annually with appropriate activities and 
recognition ceremonies.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day 
of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-four, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
eighteenth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 4:30 p.m., April 20, 
1994]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on April 
22.