War and other forms of conflict are frequently the culprit for disrupted immunization practices, as government attention and funding are diverted elsewhere and people are displaced due to fighting. In other instances, the causes are related to deficiencies in resources and infrastructure, such as limited quantities of vaccinations and/or…

Stresses the need for increased federal, state, and local support for child immunizations resulting from the alarming increases in the incidence of rubella and other infectious diseases, and endorses the Standards for Pediatric Immunization Practices recently published in the "Journal of the American Medical Association." (MDM)

Notes how the Childhood Immunization Initiative is building a system to sustain increases in immunization rates into the future. Discusses five elements of the Immunization Initiative: improvement in delivery services, monitoring, vaccine quality, cost, and federal commitment to supporting public health efforts and building a coordinated national…