US Presidents and Vaccines

You would think that getting kids vaccinated and protected against vaccine-preventable diseases would be a non-partisan issue, but it unfortunately isn’t always the case.

Even before Donald Trump brought up false claims that vaccines cause autism, we have seen what can happen when funding for vaccines dropped. Federal support for vaccines dropped while Reagan was in office and we quickly saw outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, including many deaths.

Fortunately, most American Presidents have strongly supported vaccines.

There is no longer any reason why American children should suffer from polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, or tetanus. … I am asking the American people to join in a nationwide vaccination program to stamp out these four diseases.

JFK in 1962

• George Washington – had smallpox and later mandated that every soldier in the Continental Army had to be inoculated against smallpox
• John Adams – was innoculated against smallpox (before Jenner‘s vaccine was available), as were his wife and children
• Thomas Jefferson – conducted his own smallpox vaccine trials
• James Madison – signed the Vaccine Act of 1813 – An Act to encourage Vaccination.
• James K Polk – died of cholera, a now vaccine-preventable disease, three months after his term ended
• Zachary Taylor – died of cholera while still in office
• Abraham Lincoln – developed smallpox while he was in office
• Franklin D Roosevelt – had polio and founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which was later renamed the March of Dimes, and helped fund Jonas Salk‘s research on the first polio vaccine
• Harry S Truman – had diphtheria as a child, which may have left him with vision problems, and was vaccinated against smallpox
• Dwight D Eisenhower – signed the Polio Vaccination Assistance Act in 1955, which gave $30 million in federal grants to states to cover the costs of planning and conducting polio vaccination programs, including purchasing polio vaccine
• John F Kennedy – signed the Vaccination Assistance Act in 1962 (Section 317 of the Public Health Service Act), which started as a three year program to help get kids vaccinated against polio, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis, but it has been continuously reauthorized ever since
• Lyndon B Johnson – established a legacy of US leadership in global immunization by funding the CDC Smallpox Eradication program in 1965 (smallpox wasn’t eradicated until 1980)
• Richard Nixon – observed that scientists who helped develop the polio vaccine with Jonas Salk “deserve far greater respect and support by the people whom they serve than they now receive.”
• Gerald Ford – instituted a swine flu vaccination program for an outbreak that never appeared
• Jimmy Carter – his National Childhood Immunization Initiative in 1977 reached its goal of immunizing 90% of children
• Ronald Reagan – signed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA) of 1986, which created VAERS and the NVICP, while federal support for vaccine programs reached a low point in his years in office, as rates of children living in poverty and without health insurance increased
• George HW Bush – his immunization action plan in 1991 once again raised immunization rates following three years of measles outbreaks
• Bill Clinton – his Childhood Immunization Initiative in 1993 which included signing the Vaccines for Children (VFC) Act, provided free vaccines to many children
• George W Bush – announced a major smallpox vaccination program in 2002, but very few healthcare workers actually volunteered to get vaccinated
• Barack Obama – declared the 2009 H1N1 swine flu outbreak a national emergency, Obamacare requires health insurance plans to pay for vaccines without co-pays, made the Ebola outbreak a national security priority, and helped keep funding for Zika vaccine research going

What can we expect our next President to do about vaccines and vaccination rates?

For More Information on US Presidents and Vaccines:

• American Presidents and Infectious Diseases
• Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine
• The Scientific Revolution: Study Paper by Richard Nixon, Vice President, United States of America
• Financing Immunizations in the United States
• 7 photos that show how the CDC makes the world a healthier place
• Impact of the CDC’s Section 317 Immunization Grants Program Funding on Childhood Vaccination Coverage
• What Barack Obama said about autism and vaccines in 2008
• The Affordable Care Act and Immunization
• Obama administration moves money around to fund Zika vaccine
• Vaccinations, Vaccine Science, and a New US President

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