Vaccine Confidence Subcommittee

This subcommittee was formed to respond to a charge from the Assistant Secretary for Health and the Director of the National Vaccine Program. The subcommittee will meet from October 2019 – September 2021, and provide a report in that summarizes the evidence and research in vaccine confidence and provides recommendations on strategies to improve vaccine confidence across the lifespan.
 

Charge 

Recognizing that immunizations are given across the lifespan and that there are significant differences in the levels of vaccine confidence at different stages of life and for different vaccines, the Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH) charges the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC) with a follow up report to the NVAC report published on June 10, 2015, Assessing the State of Vaccine Confidence in the United States . The focus of the report should include a description of the determinants of vaccination confidence across the lifespan, suggestions as to what HHS can do to improve confidence in all recommended vaccines, and guidance on the utilization of evidence-informed best practice from a variety of research fields such as anthropology, psychology, and economics on how to successfully foster vaccine confidence through public, provider, and policy interventions. Policy interventions should include exploration and examples of how HHS can aid state partners in bolstering vaccine acceptance by improving public trust, support state and local efforts to combat outbreaks, as well as bold and innovative interventions that can be developed and implemented at the national level.
 
To accomplish this charge, please convene a working group 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: 
 
  1. Synthesize and summarize existing evidence and applicable research addressing vaccine confidence, as applicable to age groups and/or specific vaccines that has occurred since 2015 when the first NVAC report on vaccine confidence was published.
  2. Recommend new and implementable strategies and approaches for sustaining and increasing confidence across the lifespan.
  3. Report findings for a vote.
 

Membership:

  • John Dunn, MD, MPH, Subcommittee Co-Chair, NVAC Voting Member
  • H. Cody Meissner, MD, MPH, Subcommittee Co-Chair, NVAC Voting Member
  • Ann Aikin, MA, Subcommittee Advisor and Acting Designated Official
  • Melody Butler, RN, BSN,  NVAC Voting Member
  • Leonard Friedland, MD, NVAC Voting Member
  • Robert H. Hopkins, Jr., MD, NVAC Chair and NVAC Voting Member
  • James S. Blumenstock, NVAC Liaison Representative Member (ASTHO)
  • Kris R. Ehresmann, RN, MPH, NVAC Liaison Representative Member (AIM)
  • Gina Charos, NVAC Liaison Representative Member (PHAC)
  • Nathalie El Omeiri, PhD, MPH, NVAC Regular Government Member  (PAHO)
  • Justin A. Mills, MD, MPH, FAAP, NVAC Regular Government Member  (AHRQ)
  • Noel Brewer, PhD, Public Member (University of North Carolina)
  • Michelle Cantu, MPH, Public Member (NACCHO)
  • Amanda C. Cohn, MD, MPH, Public Member (CDC)
  • Frank DeStefano, MD, MPH, Public Member (CDC)
  • Allison Fisher, MPH, Public Member (CDC)
  • Paula Frew, PhD, MPH, Public Member (University of Nevada, Las Vegas)
  • Stephanie Griswold, Public Member (CDC)
  • Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, Public Member (Baylor University)
  • Rekha Lakshmanan, MHA, Public Member (The Immunization Partnership)
  • Heidi Larson, PhD, Public Member (University of Washington, Vaccine Confidence Project)
  • Ed Marcuse, MD, MPH, Public Member (University of Washington; Emeritus)
  • Chime Nnadi, MD, PhD, Public Member (The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson)
  • Glen Nowak, PhD, Public Member (University of Georgia)
  • Saad B. Omer, MBBS, MPH, PhD, FIDSA, Public Member (Yale University)
  • Douglas J. Opel, MD, MPH, Public Member (Seattle Children’s Hospital)
  • Daniel Salmon, PhD, Public Member (Johns Hopkins University)
  • Judy Van Alstine, Public Member (HRSA)
  • Amy Walker, Public Member (BIO)
  • Suzy Wootoon, MD, Public Member (University of Texas Medical School at Houston)
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