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…

This hearing was held in response to a request from the Congressional Black Caucus, which asked the subcommittees to find out if the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was doing everything possible to reduce infant mortality, especially the high death rate experienced by Blacks. The hearing opened with statements by both subcommittee…