Age-appropriate immunization with all recommended vaccines will be extended to at least 90 percent of infants and children, and access to affordable vaccination services will be made available for every person in the United States.

Diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis, measles, rubella, mumps, some forms of hepatitis, pertussis (whooping cough), and bacterial meningitis (from Haemophilus influenzae type b) will be essentially eliminated as significant causes of death, disease, and disability in the United States.

Educational communication networks will be in place that will inform all health care providers, communities, and families of the benefits and risks of vaccination.

In a global context, polio will be drastically reduced, if not eliminated, and neonatal tetanus and measles will be better controlled.

Pneumococcal pneumonia and influenza in American adults over the age of 65 will be significantly reduced.

A nationwide system will monitor the vaccines that children receive, and will remind parents when individual infants and children should be vaccinated.

A nationwide surveillance system will report and investigate cases of vaccine-preventable diseases.

Vaccine safety and efficacy will be continuously monitored, and adverse events following immunization will be reported and carefully analyzed.

Improved vaccines will replace some of the vaccines in current use.

Some vaccines requiring multiple doses and multiple contacts with the health care system will be replaced by more cost-effective ones that will improve people’s access to immunization.

Many new vaccines will be developed, or be much closer to licensure, for diseases for which effective vaccines do not now exist.

New mechanisms for the more rapid assessment of vaccines proposed for licensure will be in place.

A reliable supply of all recommended vaccines and a capability to respond to emergencies and emergent threats to public health will be achieved and sustained.

Information on the cost and benefits of the National Vaccine Plan will be made available on an ongoing basis to the American people.