Please Contact the Joint

Committee on Public Health

to Support Bills H.2554 and S.1557

H.2554 - An Act relative to routine

childhood immunizations

S.1557 - An Act relative to vaccines and preventing future disease outbreaks

Please contact the following House and Senate Chairs of the Public Health Committee:

Marjorie.Decker@mahouse.gov; William.Driscoll@masenate.gov

Please ask them to act favorably and quickly on H.2554 and S.1557. A sample email is provided below.

The Chapter partners with Massachusetts Families for Vaccines and emails may also be submitted through their website. Here are links with information about the bills and a form to submit a letter:

https://www.mafamiliesforvaccines.org/exemptions

https://www.mafamiliesforvaccines.org/act

For a complete list of bills before the Committee that day, to sign up to present oral or written testimony, and to watch a live stream of the hearing, click here.

Please contact Cynthia McReynolds, MCAAP Immunization Initiative Program Manager, at cmcreynolds@mcaap.org if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Brenda Anders Pring MD FAAP

Pesident, MCAAP

Subject Line: URGENT - Please support H.2554 and S.1557

Dear Honorable Chairs Decker and Driscoll,

I am writing as a pediatrician and member of the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics to urge you to support Bill H.2554, An Act relative to routine childhood immunizations and S.1557, An Act relative to vaccines and preventing future disease outbreaks.

These bills will remove non-medical exemptions to vaccination requirements for children entering school in Massachusetts, while preserving medical exemptions and would increase immunization reporting requirements for schools. This ensures children who attend school are up to date on certain immunizations, promoting public health and safety in all Massachusetts’ schools and communities. The COVID-19 pandemic and the recent measles outbreaks have revealed how devastating a disease outbreak can be in our communities.

Scientific evidence from the fights against polio, measles, and COVID-19 have demonstrated that vaccines are among the most effective and safest means to prevent individual illness and protect public health. Increased vaccination rates promote herd immunity, which not only protects individuals with serious conditions, but also protects Massachusetts’ children.

In the face of federal uncertainty, Massachusetts should enact H.2254 and S.1557 to eliminate the religious exemption to immunization for school entry, and join California, Connecticut, Maine and New York in keeping our children and our communities safe.

I urge you to support H.2554 and S.1557 to increase the number of children who are protected against deadly vaccine-preventable diseases and to keep Massachusetts cities and towns safe from outbreaks of diseases that are impacting communities across the country.

[Feel free to add brief personal/clinical perspective on this issue as applicable]

Sincerely,

[Add Your Name and Contact Information]