Expand access to vaccinations

The CDC has finally approved COVID-19 vaccines for children aged 5-11. Parents across Connecticut are lining up to get their children vaccinated. But what about the parents that don’t have that luxury?

The United States has been focusing on COVID-19, but children around the world are affected by other vaccine-preventable diseases too, such as measles, polio, and rotavirus. Unvaccinated children disproportionately live in fragile countries — one in five children around the world still lacks access to basic childhood vaccines. The pandemic has led to a major backsliding on routine immunization progress. As mothers in less fortunate areas of the world go to great lengths to get their children vaccinated, we must embrace the miracle of science that is immunizations and work to increase access to vaccines for everyone in the world.

My recent work at the United Nations Foundation’s Shot@Life campaign has broadened my lens as a student trying to create a safer and healthier world. One-and-a-half million children die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases, and eradicating vaccine preventable disease worldwide has become a top priority for me.

National health safety and security must be a top priority for all of us, and children in Connecticut will certainly benefit from expanding our vaccination efforts beyond U.S. borders. I encourage Sen. Chris Murphy, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, and Rep. Jim Himes to support access to vaccines for all children. By increasing access to existing vaccines, we can save a child’s life every 20 seconds.

Lauren Steensma Fairfield