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REMARKS BY:	DONNA E. SHALALA, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
PLACE:		Dedication of Cornerstone for Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center
DATE:		June 9, 1999

Let me start by thanking Dr. Varmus for his truly outstanding leadership. Readers of The New Yorker magazine now know what we have always known - there's never been a director of NIH who can match Dr. Harold Varmus. Mr. President: As I noted in the article, your appointment of Dr. Varmus may be the most important of your presidency - with the longest and most sustained impact on this country and the world.

When I was nominated for HHS Secretary, I made a courtesy telephone call to Senator Bumpers. I had never met him, but I told him I supported the consideration he gave to running for President in 1988.

I am a huge fan of both Senator and Mrs. Bumpers. They are smart and savvy - and saviors too. There are adults all over our country that never would have made it past early childhood without the compassion, foresight and determination of Senator Bumpers and Mrs. Bumpers. From Arkansas to Washington to the far corners of the globe, they have been guardians for our nation's children - protecting them from polio, measles, rubella and other invisible enemies.

I like to tell people that when the President and Vice-President first came into office, some people in Washington told us that improving childhood immunization rates in this country was a lost cause. Fortunately, we knew better - and had the experience of the Bumpers to inspire us. They have been leaders on childhood immunization for more than 25 years - and pioneered immunization programs in Arkansas that became models for states across the country.

In the late 1980s, the Senator and Mrs. Bumpers realized that the devastation of the measles epidemic was not just tragic - it was preventable. They used that knowledge to push all of us to strengthen our childhood immunization programs. That's why when President Clinton took office, we created our Childhood Immunization Initiative - and enlisted an army of partners and volunteers to help us.

Our hard work has paid big dividends.

In 1997, with the Bumpers in attendance in the East Room, we were able to announce that immunization rates had reached an all-time high - with 90 percent or more of America's toddlers receiving the most critical doses by age 2. We achieved this success by more than doubling funding for childhood immunization activities, by supporting critical scientific research necessary to develop vaccines, and by lining up everyone from Dr. Seuss to singer Jon Secada to help us get the message to parents in English and Spanish: Vaccinate your children on time, every time.

Today, by dedicating the cornerstone for the Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center we take the next step.

When this Center is completed it will be the Cape Canaveral of vaccine research - finding cures for childhood diseases still on the loose, and bringing us closer to President Clinton's goal of finding an AIDS vaccine by 2007.

It is fitting that we're dedicating the foundation of this building because the AIDS vaccine research that will begin here next year, builds on the President's and Vice-President's long record of accomplishment in fighting AIDS, and the longstanding commitment to vaccines for prevention championed by Senator Bumpers and Mrs. Bumpers.

The money this Administration spends to help people living with HIV/AIDS purchase drugs has increased almost 900 percent. We held the first ever White House Conference on AIDS. New drugs to help fight HIV/AIDS are being approved in record time. The President and Vice President have made AIDS one of six areas in which we're working to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities by 2010. All of this has saved many lives. The death rate from AIDS fell almost 50 percent from 1996 to 1997, and AIDS is no longer among the top ten leading causes of death in our country.

But we are a long - let me repeat a long - way from winning this battle.

While we must do all we can to care for people with HIV/AIDS - it is vital that we also focus on prevention and an effective vaccine for our nation and the world. So while we promote prevention - we must also unlock the secrets of AIDS and find a vaccine that will stop this disease once and for all.

I compared the Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center to Cape Canaveral. Many of us are old enough to remember when President John F. Kennedy challenged us to reach the moon and return safely to earth. Some day, President Clinton's 1997 speech at Morgan State University calling for an AIDS vaccine within ten years will be as famous as the grainy black and white film of President Kennedy issuing his famous challenge.

It is no overstatement to say that this President lifted our nation out of the Dark Ages of AIDS policy. He brought a new level of compassion and generosity to people living with AIDS - and a new level of commitment and leadership to ending this terrible disease. It is also no overstatement to say that America loves Razorbacks, and scored a big victory when Arkansas had the foresight to elect not one - but two - governors blessed with partners who are leaders in their own right on children's health issues.

The President, Mrs. Clinton, Senator and Mrs. Bumpers are fighting every day to help all of us live a healthier tomorrow. The depth of these leaders' commitment did not go unnoticed in the halls of Congress where one Senator - perhaps taken by Hollywood's renewed interest in Shakespeare - asked the question: "What's in a name?" Senator Harkin answered that question with a resounding, "plenty!" He knew that a center destined to do great things must named after two people who had accomplished great things.

Those two people were Senator Bumpers and Mrs. Bumpers. So Senator Harkin introduced the amendment that will forever enshrine their names - and life saving work - on the front of the building that will stand here starting next year. It's a pleasure for me to introduce an outstanding Senate leader, a very strong advocate for health, and a great namer of buildings.

Senator Tom Harkin .