Immunization Equity Subcommittee
This subcommittee was formed to respond to a charge from the Assistant Secretary for Health and the Director of the National Vaccine Program, Admiral Brett Giroir. The working group will meet from July 2019-June 2021 and provide recommendations to inform a national strategy for ending immunization disparities in the United States in June 2021.
Charge
Immunization disparities—including differences in vaccination rates by age, socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity, and geographic areas—persist in the United States. According to recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
- Black, Hispanic, and Asian adults have lower vaccination rates than whites for all recommended adult vaccines.
- Rural adolescents are less likely to receive their first dose of the HPV or meningococcal conjugate vaccines than those living in urban areas.
- People without health insurance have vaccination rates that are 2 to 5 times lower than people with health insurance for flu, shingles, HPV, and other diseases.
- Black and Hispanic health care professionals had lower vaccination rates than white health care professionals for flu, hepatitis B, and tetanus, diphtheria, and whooping cough (combined Tdap vaccine).
I would like to charge this committee with providing a comprehensive set of recommendations that lay the foundation for an effective national strategy to end immunization disparities in the United States.
To complete this charge, a working group is recommended that consists of select NVAC members, a broad array of federal and non-federal stakeholders comprised of ex-officio and liaison members of the committee, and experts not on the committee.
The NVAC working group should:
- Review and summarize the complex and interrelated factors that contribute to vaccination disparities such as access, affordability, awareness, acceptance, and activation.
- Deliver a set of system-wide recommendations for overcoming drivers of immunization disparities and reducing gaps in coverage that will provide the foundation for development of a collaborative immunization equity strategy.
- Report findings for a vote.
Membership
- Melody Butler, RN, BSN, Subcommittee Co-Chair, NVAC Voting Member
- Melissa Martinez, MD, Subcommittee Co-Chair, NVAC Voting Member
- Ann Aikin, MA, Subcommittee Advisor and Acting Designated Official, OIDP
- Ilka Chavez, MPA, Subcommittee Advisor and Coordinator, OIDP
- Leonard Friedland, MD, NVAC Voting Member
- Robert H. Hopkins, Jr., MD, NVAC Voting Member
- Mary Ann Jackson, MD, NVAC Voting Member
- Geeta Swamy, MD, NVAC Voting Member
- Kelli Goode, PharmD, NVAC Liaison Representative Member (APhA)
- Nathalie El Omeiri, PhD, MPH, NVAC Regular Government Member (PAHO)
- Mary Beth Hance, NVAC Regular Government Member (CMS)
- Troy Knighton, LPC, EdS, MEd, NVAC Regular Government Member (VA)
- Ram Koppaka, MD, PhD, NVAC Regular Government Member (CDC)
- Jeffery McCollum, DVM, MPH, NVAC Regular Government Member (IHS)
- Justin Mills, MD, MPH, FAAP, NVAC Regular Government Member (AHRQ)
- Judith Steinberg, MD, MPH, NVAC Regular Government Member (HRSA)
- Cindy Weinbaum, MD, NVAC Regular Government Member (CDC)
- Alan R. Hinman, MD, Technical Advisor (Center for Vaccine Equity)
- Alana Knudson, PhD, Technical Advisor (Walsh Center)
