Title: VACCINES Act of 2019
Policy area: Health

Summary:
Vaccine Awareness Campaign to Champion Immunization Nationally and Enhance Safety Act of 2019 or the VACCINES Act of 2019
This bill requires the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to take a series of actions relating to vaccination rates and awareness. Specifically, the CDC must (1) develop a national surveillance system to monitor vaccination rates, and (2) conduct a national campaign to increase awareness of the importance of vaccines.
Additionally, the National Vaccine Advisory Committee must assess national confidence in vaccines and update a specified 2015 report accordingly.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2862 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2862

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a national system 
  for surveillance of vaccine rates, to authorize research on vaccine 
    hesitancy, to increase public understanding of the benefits of 
                 immunizations, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 21, 2019

  Ms. Schrier (for herself, Mr. Burgess, Mr. Engel, Mr. Guthrie, Mr. 
 Schrader, and Mr. Bilirakis) introduced the following bill; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for a national system 
  for surveillance of vaccine rates, to authorize research on vaccine 
    hesitancy, to increase public understanding of the benefits of 
                 immunizations, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Vaccine Awareness Campaign to 
Champion Immunization Nationally and Enhance Safety Act of 2019'' or 
the ``VACCINES Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. VACCINE SURVEILLANCE AND RESEARCH.

    (a) In General.--Section 317 of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 247b) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsection:
    ``(n) Vaccine Surveillance and Research.--
            ``(1) Surveillance.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Secretary, acting through 
                the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and 
                Prevention, and in consultation with the National 
                Vaccine Advisory Committee and the Director of the 
                National Vaccine Program, shall develop and deploy a 
                national system for surveillance of vaccination rates.
                    ``(B) Authorized activities.--The surveillance 
                system under subparagraph (A) may include the 
                following:
                            ``(i) Use of immunization data available to 
                        the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
                        and its contractors.
                            ``(ii) Integration of data from existing 
                        systems--
                                    ``(I) to measure vaccination 
                                confidence over time;
                                    ``(II) to understand variations 
                                across time and geography; and
                                    ``(III) to measure vaccine refusal.
                    ``(C) Use of data.--The Secretary may use data 
                collected pursuant to the surveillance system under 
                subparagraph (A) to predict and identify areas and 
                communities where--
                            ``(i) vaccines are or will be 
                        underutilized;
                            ``(ii) vaccine confidence is low or 
                        decreasing; or
                            ``(iii) misinformation about the safety of 
                        vaccines, not supported by scientific or 
                        medical evidence, has been directed in a 
                        targeted manner.
                    ``(D) Consultation.--In developing the surveillance 
                system under subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall 
                consult with the National Academies to synthesize 
                existing evidence and develop a standardized 
                measurement of vaccine confidence.
                    ``(E) Funding.--There are authorized to be 
                appropriated $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 
                through 2024 to carry out this paragraph.
            ``(2) Grants for research.--The Secretary may award grants 
        for research--
                    ``(A) to improve the understanding of vaccine 
                hesitancy;
                    ``(B) to improve understanding of health care 
                provider attitudes and beliefs toward vaccination; and
                    ``(C) to develop effective strategies for 
                addressing non-adherence to the safe and recommended 
                use of vaccines and encouraging the safe and 
                recommended use of vaccines.''.
    (b) Update of 2015 NVAC Report.--The National Vaccine Advisory 
Committee shall--
            (1) assess the state of vaccine confidence in the United 
        States; and
            (2) update the findings and recommendations in the report 
        on this topic approved by the National Vaccine Advisory 
        Committee on June 10, 2015.

SEC. 3. PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN ON THE IMPORTANCE OF VACCINATIONS.

    Section 317 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247b), as 
amended by section 3, is further amended by adding at the end the 
following new subsection:
    ``(o) Public Awareness Campaign on the Importance of 
Vaccinations.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary, acting through the 
        Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
        shall carry out a national campaign to increase awareness of 
        the importance of, combat misinformation about, and increase 
        rates of, vaccinations across the lifespan.
            ``(2) Consultation.--In carrying out the campaign under 
        this subsection, the Secretary shall consult with the National 
        Academy of Medicine and nationally recognized private entities, 
        including medical and public health associations and nonprofit 
        organizations, to solicit advice on evidence-based information 
        for policy development and program development, implementation, 
        and evaluation.
            ``(3) Requirements.--The campaign under this subsection--
                    ``(A) shall be an evidence-based media and public 
                engagement initiative;
                    ``(B) shall be carried out through competitively 
                bid contracts awarded to one or more public or private 
                entities;
                    ``(C) may include the use of television, radio, 
                print, the internet, and other commercial marketing 
                venues;
                    ``(D) may include the use of in-person public 
                communications;
                    ``(E) may be targeted to--
                            ``(i) specific groups and local needs of 
                        communities with high rates of unvaccinated 
                        individuals; or
                            ``(ii) areas or communities identified 
                        pursuant to subsection (n)(1)(C);
                    ``(F) shall include the development of culturally 
                and linguistically competent resources that may be 
                tailored for communities with high rates of 
                unvaccinated individuals;
                    ``(G) shall include the dissemination of vaccine 
                information and vaccine communication resources to 
                health care providers and health care facilities, 
                including pharmacists, State and local public health 
                departments, and health care providers and facilities 
                that provide prenatal and pediatric care;
                    ``(H) may include the use of recognized trusted 
                figures;
                    ``(I) shall be complementary to, and coordinated 
                with, any other Federal efforts;
                    ``(J) shall include message testing to identify 
                culturally competent and effective messages for 
                behavioral change;
                    ``(K) may include the dissemination of information 
                highlighting--
                            ``(i) advancements in research and vaccine 
                        development that have saved millions of 
                        individuals from death and disability from now-
                        preventable diseases;
                            ``(ii) information on how individuals 
                        across the lifespan benefit from immunizations, 
                        including those who cannot be vaccinated and 
                        rely on community immunity;
                            ``(iii) information on the dangers of not 
                        being vaccinated, including the potential for 
                        infectious disease outbreaks within 
                        communities; and
                            ``(iv) information on vaccine safety and 
                        the systems in place to monitor vaccine safety;
                    ``(L) shall include the award of grants to State, 
                local, and tribal public health departments--
                            ``(i) to identify and prioritize engagement 
                        with communities with high rates of 
                        unvaccinated individuals;
                            ``(ii) to engage communities with high 
                        rates of unvaccinated individuals in 
                        understanding the challenges to increasing 
                        vaccination rates in the respective communities 
                        and developing effective strategies (including 
                        through formative research or focus groups) to 
                        increase such rates; and
                            ``(iii) to encourage partnerships with 
                        community organizations and health care 
                        providers to develop and deliver evidence based 
                        interventions to increase vaccination rates; 
                        and
                    ``(M) may include the development and dissemination 
                of evidence-based scientific curricula for use in 
                public elementary schools and secondary schools (as 
                defined in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary 
                Education Act of 1965) on infectious disease outbreaks 
                and how they can be prevented and controlled.
            ``(4) Evaluation.--The Secretary shall--
                    ``(A) establish baseline measures and benchmarks to 
                quantitatively evaluate the impact of the campaign 
                under this subsection;
                    ``(B) conduct qualitative assessments regarding the 
                effectiveness of strategies employed under this 
                subsection; and
                    ``(C) prepare and submit to the Committee on Energy 
                and Commerce of the House of Representatives and the 
                Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of 
                the Senate an evaluation of the campaign.
            ``(5) Funding.--There are authorized to be appropriated 
        $6,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024 to carry 
        out this subsection.''.
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