Vaccines play an important role in keeping us healthy. They protect us from serious and sometimes deadly diseases.¹ The increase in child life expectancy is largely due to reductions of mortality by infectious diseases through the administration of vaccines. Early childhood immunization has been proven to be a safe and cost-effective means of controlling vaccine-preventable diseases.  In the last 50 years, vaccinations have led to a 95% decrease in vaccine-preventable diseases.

The NJDOH Vaccine-Preventable Disease Program (VPDP) works to reduce and eliminate the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases affecting children, adolescents, and adults by raising the immunization coverage rates of New Jersey’s citizens. The VPDP promotes timely vaccination through education and collaboration with private and public health care stakeholders such as: the NJ Department of Education, NJ Department of Children and Families, Health Service Grantees (HSG), private practitioners, local health departments (LHD), Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) and through collaboration and funding of our statewide immunization coalitions, the New Jersey Immunization Network (NJIN) and the Essex Metro Immunization Coalition (EMIC).

2018-2023

Projects

• Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program
• Hot Shots for Tots (HSFT) Immunization Campaign
• Protect Me With 3+ (PMW3⁺) annual poster and video contest
• Power to Protect NJ statewide flu campaign
• New Jersey Influenza Honor Roll and the NJ College & University Flu Challenge
• Promote pediatric and adolescent immunization standards to health care providers through the creation and distribution of educational tools.
• Support health service grantees through various immunization activities.
• Collaborate and offer annual immunization education to health care providers, stakeholders, and community partners through the webinars, in-person trainings, and conferences.
• Collect, maintain, and analyze the immunization status of students attending public and non-public schools, including licensed childcare and preschool facilities, via the Annual Immunization Status Report (ASR) and local health department school immunization audits.

Legislation

• P.L. 2019, c. 330 (N.J.S.A. § 26:2H-18.79-18.81) enacted in January 2020, requires all employees of hospitals, nursing homes and home health agencies to get an annual flu vaccine. The only exception is if an employee is medically contraindicated from receiving the flu vaccine.
• P.L. 2019, c.332 requires students at institutions of higher education to receive immunization for meningitis in accordance with recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

Final Assessment

• One Immunization target was achieved by 2020.
  • The target was achieved for birth dose of the Hepatitis B vaccine.
• Seasonal flu vaccination among persons age 65 and over improved but the target was not met.
• The remaining Immunization objectives had little or no change over the decade.

For more information, please refer to these resources:

• NJ Immunization Requirements 
• NJDOH Vaccine Preventable Disease Program
• CDC National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases
  • Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)
• Healthy People 2020
• Healthy People 2030

Reference:

1. Vaccine Basics. Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy, USHHS. 4/29/21.