Research, Monitoring and Outcomes Definitions for Vaccine Safety

The National Vaccine Program (NVP) collaborates with federal partners to provide strategic direction for the coordination of the vaccine and immunization enterprise for the National Vaccine Plan implementation http://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/vacc_plan/2010%20Plan/nationalvaccineplan.pdf. NVP funds grants and cooperative agreements to increase vaccine confidence. Current areas of focus seek to expand, plan, implement, and evaluate promising practices and develop novel approaches to increase vaccine confidence in local communities, particularly through partnerships with organizations that work with populations with low vaccination rates (e.g., African Americans and residents in rural communities). Programmatic goals are centered around: building and maintaining partnerships with local community to determine what specific barriers are preventing confidence in vaccine; developing locally tailored innovative, effective intervention strategies that increase vaccine confidence; and increasing vaccine confidence to help it become a routine part of community vaccination programs, particularly among underserved populations with low vaccine rates.