The Immunization Alliance is an American vaccine advocacy consortium, assembled under the auspices of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in May 2008. The Immunization Alliance has called for a governmental information campaign, ongoing research into vaccine safety and efficacy, balanced media coverage, and restoration of confidence among parents due to vaccine hesitancy and the related controversies in autism.[citation needed]
Citing the largest measles outbreak in the United States since 1966 (130 cases in fifteen states), Paul Offit, a member of the Alliance, asserted that this re-emergence of a common childhood disease was a warning about the dangers of "what can happen when parents are misinformed about vaccine safety.[1] "We do not want to become a nation of people who are vulnerable to diseases that are deadly or that can have serious complications, especially if those diseases can be prevented," said Renee Jenkins, president of the AAP.[2] The Immunization Alliance's debut was announced in the July 2008 issue of Pediatrics (published by the AAP), which also detailed its plans for improving vaccine schedule adherence and combating declining immunization rates.[citation needed]
The Immunization Alliance's stated goals include increasing public education about vaccines by both public health organizations and individual physicians, and increasing federal funding and media coverage surrounding the science of vaccine safety.[3]
Over twenty organizations form the Immunization Alliance, including:[citation needed]