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Donna E. Shalala, PhD

JAMA. 1993;269(14):1844-1845.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

In the first 6 months of 1991, a rubella outbreak struck a rural community in Pennsylvania, resulting in the births of at least 27 infants with congenital rubella syndrome. Until that time, the entire state had witnessed only two documented cases of congenital rubella syndrome in the previous 20 years—one in 1972 and one in 1975.¹ Unfortunately, when it comes to preventable childhood infectious diseases in the United States, this story is not unique. Today, between 37% and 56% of the 7.8 million 2-year-olds in America—about 4 million children— are not fully immunized (unpublished data, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1991). These figures are alarming. Although the vaccines necessary to guard children against infectious diseases such as mumps, measles, diphtheria, hepatitis B, and polio are available, safe, and effective, we as a nation have failed to provide these immunizations on time. Clearly, protecting our

See also p 1817. . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC.

Footnotes
Reprint requests to Information Services, National Center for Prevention Services, Mailstop E-06, 1600B Tullie Cir, Atlanta, GA 30329.

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