THE COMMITMENT

Every child, no matter where he or she is born, has the right to the opportunity of a healthy life and vaccines are one of the best ways to assure it.

However, 22.6 million children around the world still don’t have access to the most basic vaccines. One in five of all children who die before the age of five lose their lives to vaccine-preventable diseases. The overwhelming majority of these deaths occur in developing countries.

Global citizens are campaigning for increased access to vaccines worldwide.

GLOBAL CITIZENS RESPOND

Global citizens know that vaccines are one of the most efficient, successful, and cost-effective health and development investments we can make. Global citizens across the country have taken over 38,000 actions to help increase access to vaccines and immunizations. Together, we’ve signed the petition to support increased access to vaccines and we’ve tweeted at key leaders like the Prime Minister of Norway.

On July 23, Judith Rowland and Michael Sheldrick from the Global Citizen team went to Capitol Hill to meet with important leaders in the House of Representatives. We worked alongside our friends at the American Academy of Pediatrics to ask Congresspeople to continue support and investment in vaccines worldwide.

We met with the offices of 16 Congresspeople! Here we are with Congressman McGovern. Congressman McGovern is known for being a huge supporter of social justice and fundamental human rights.

IMPACT

Right after meeting with us, Congressman Levin and Congressman McDermott signed onto a resolution supporting increased access to vaccines worldwide! This resolution encourages continued commitment and investment by the United States Government to ensure that kids in developing countries have access to vaccines.

Here are a few more pictures of our time on Capitol Hill building momentum around support for vaccines:

WHAT'S NEXT?

Over the next few months, the Global Citizen team will continue meeting with elected leaders to build support for vaccines.

This fall, we’ll be handing over our petition to members of the United States Government!