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REMARKS BY:    DONNA E. SHALALA, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND
			   HUMAN SERVICES
PLACE:         CDC 30th National Immunization Conference
DATE:	       APRIL 10, 1996

Remember the Native American trickster tales and the African American folk tradition? Golden oldies like Cinderella and The Wizard of Oz? And, the Mexican-American song about a mother duck who protects and provides for her ducklings?

These stories have one thing in common. In each case, the children get saved because of the intervention of caring adults. The Fairy Godmother. Glenda the Good Witch. The kindly woodcutter. The loving parents. You are those caring adults.

Whether you spend your days in a lab searching for a better vaccine or in a clinic keeping our children's shots up to date;

Whether you're creating educational material for parents or pounding the pavement to spread the word about vaccines -- you are helping parents keep their children healthy and safe. And our Administration is proud to stand with you.

Under our watch, we're fighting to make sure that all children get the right start in life with better, stronger Head Start and Child Care.

We're fighting to ensure that children get their information about tobacco from their parents and other caring adults -- not from Joe Camel.

We're fighting for real welfare reform that encourages work, demands responsibility and always, always protects vulnerable children.

We're fighting for safer neighborhoods with the Brady Bill and Assault Weapons ban -- the first two curbs on gun violence to be enacted in more than 25 years!! And, let me be clear: the President will not let the gun lobby overturn the assault weapons ban!

And with your help, we're fighting for a healthier America where all children gets all their shots -- not by age five, not by four, not by three -- but by two!!

And that's a children's agenda.

Just two months after he was sworn into office, President Clinton personally committed his Administration to an historic, comprehensive strategy to immunize our youngest and most vulnerable children. And, together we are making good on that promise.

But let me be clear: This is not a one-shot burst of energy. This is not a single, short-lived effort. This is not a band-aid approach to a temporary epidemic. It's a comprehensive and lasting shift in priorities and practice.

What I'm really talking about is a new approach to public health. In everything we do, we're complementing the medical model which focuses on treating illness -- with the public health model which focuses on prevention. And, we're teaming up with leaders like you -- public and private sector -- at the state, local, and community levels, to create effective strategies that are locally tailored and locally driven.

That's why, since 1993, we've more than doubled the funding for CDC's immunization programs.

That's why we've abandoned the old "one size fits all" approach to government and helped states develop their own tailor-made action plans -- so that they can expand clinic hours, hire more staff, and find other new ways to vaccinate more children.

That's why we're teaming up with the managed care industry -- as HMOs come to understand that immunizations are good for the bottom lines of people and profits.

That's why we're unlocking the scientific mysteries of vaccines -- so that one day our children can get all their immunizations with one shot -- or even by eating a genetically-engineered banana.

That's why, because of your hard work, the Vaccines for Children Program is now up and running in all fifty states.

That's why we've worked with you in communities across America to create coalitions and build a national outreach effort the likes of which this country has never seen -- a national outreach effort that is allowing parents to see our immunization message almost everywhere they look: on baby food labels, on fast food tray liners, and on supermarket receipts.

And that's why, from Minnesota to South Carolina and from North Dakota to Delaware, under demonstrations approved by HHS, states are finding innovative ways to increase immunization rates now -- and sustain them into the future.

Last year, I visited a Head Start center in Oakland, California that has locked arms with the County Health Department, Americorps and community volunteers to ensure that younger siblings are getting immunized -- on time.

It's working. And now we're helping to replicate it all over California and all over America. That's what your work is all about. And that's exactly why all of us are here.

Four years ago, our immunization rate was at 55 percent for the full series of shots. Today, that rate is at 75 percent -- that's the highest level in history. Today, childhood infectious diseases are at an all-time low. And today, we're on the brink of waving one final goodbye to the tragedy of polio all across the globe.

That's real progress -- progress we should all be proud of. But our work is far from done. There are still over one million preschoolers in this country who don't have all their shots -- and we cannot rest until they do.

We cannot rest until we ring in 1997 with an un-paralleled public health triumph by meeting our goal of immunizing 90 percent of 2 year-olds with the most important shots.

But even as we look ahead, we must ensure that we do not go back.

We cannot go back to the days when our children's health needs went unmet, because their parents couldn't afford to take them to a doctor. We cannot go back to the days when anguished children gasped for air from monstrous iron lungs. And we cannot go back to the days when we spent more energy immunizing chickens, than children.

We cannot, and we will not.

That's why the President wants to balance the budget in seven years while still strengthening Medicaid, protecting childhood immunization funding and safeguarding our future.

We believe that Medicaid must remain a guarantee and a promise for all children who need it.

And, we believe we must protect our hard won progress to immunize children and maintain the guarantee of funding for vaccine purchases for the states: so that needy children get up-to-date vaccines today and tomorrow; and so that funds for children's immunizations do not have to compete for scarce resources with education, AIDS prevention, drug treatment and other critical efforts.

But, the truth is, government will never meet this -- or any other challenge -- alone. From Seattle to Savannah, you are the leaders who will help get this job done.

So, let us leave here today stronger than ever, more committed than ever, more determined than ever to make good on the promises we've made to each other and to our children.

Let us continue to reach out and join hands across disciplines and across the country to ensure that all children get the shots they need -- no matter where they live.

Let us remember the lessons of TB and other public health tragedies and celebrate our successes not by resting on our laurels, but with a renewed and re-energized commitment to continue the fight.

And, as we engage in this historic debate about the role of government and the character of our country, let us all continue to stand up and speak out for the health of our children.

Because as you know, children don't have lobbyists. They don't buy T.V. time. And, they can't vote. All of us are the caring adults that make happy endings come true.

We are the Fairy Godmothers and Godfathers. And, we must make sure that the fate of our children rests in everybody's hands. I am reminded of that wonderful scene in the movie, Apollo 13.

The NASA staff has just realized that the mission must be terminated, and there isn't enough battery power to make the trip back home. The mission director calls the staff into a briefing room and tells them that they must squeeze every amp of power out of the spacecraft. And, then, in case there is any confusion, he tells them pointedly, "Failure is not an option."

Failure is not an option. Failure has never been an option. Not when children are at risk. Not when families are at risk. Not when the future of our country is at risk.

Thank you.