{"id":144,"date":"2026-04-30T15:57:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T15:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/lynn-schulman\/?p=144"},"modified":"2026-05-01T16:00:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T16:00:44","slug":"healthbeat-new-york-city-council-passes-plan-to-step-up-education-on-vaccines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/lynn-schulman\/2026\/04\/30\/healthbeat-new-york-city-council-passes-plan-to-step-up-education-on-vaccines\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthbeat – New York City Council passes plan to step up education on vaccines"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Trenton Daniels<\/mark><\/p>\n

The New York City Council on Thursday passed a package of bills seeking to do more to educate parents about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines as immunization rates show signs of starting to dip.<\/p>\n

The five bills aim to make it easier for schools to disseminate accurate information about vaccines to parents, as well as to require the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to develop a plan by year\u2019s end that will educate New Yorkers about the importance of childhood and adolescent vaccinations.<\/p>\n

The package will be sent to Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has 30 days to sign, veto, or let the bills lapse into law.<\/p>\n

The action comes as the federal government led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and followers of his Make America Healthy Again movement are working to sow doubt and confusion about vaccines, which are scientifically proven to be safe and effective. As a result, state and local governments are taking a greater role in educating the public.<\/p>\n

New York state has long had some of the highest vaccination rates in the country, but that record may be faltering.<\/p>\n

In New York City, new data suggest parents are delaying routine vaccinations for their children. In March, the city reported that about 1 in 3\u00a02-year-olds\u00a0had not received all doses of seven vaccines \u2013 DTap (diptheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis); polio; measles, mumps, and rubella; hib; hepatitis B; varicella (chickenpox); and pcv (pneumococcus).<\/p>\n

This prompted city health officials to launch\u00a0a\u00a0$1 million campaign\u00a0over four weeks encouraging parents to vaccinate their children. Officials say the campaign ran in multiple languages and on TV, radio, print news, kiosks, and transportation hubs in neighborhoods with low vaccination rates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new life that Kennedy is giving to the movement has clearly given new life to the diseases themselves,\u201d City Council Speaker Julie Menin said at the council meeting, before the bills were introduced. \u201cThe erosion of public trust in science doesn\u2019t just increase health risks for his own band of followers, it also puts our wider community in jeopardy. As lawmakers and as leaders, we cannot sit back and let that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The United States has seen more measles cases over the past year than it has in decades. An\u00a0outbreak in South Carolina\u00a0reached nearly 1,000 cases. Most of those infected were unvaccinated.<\/p>\n

James Alwine, a virologist, professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania, and visiting professor at the University of Arizona, is a member of Defend Public Health, a nationwide network of public health leaders and advocates. He applauded the legislation and offered this advice for the health department on vaccine messaging: Keep it simple and straightforward while highlighting the harm that these preventable diseases can inflict on children.<\/p>\n

\u201cStay out of the real science and data \u2014 that just doesn\u2019t work,\u201d Alwine told Healthbeat. \u201cYou can\u2019t fight against what they\u2019re saying by trying to tell people, \u2018Well, here\u2019s the science, here\u2019s the data, here\u2019s the study.\u2019 It just falls on deaf ears, mainly because it\u2019s hard to explain in lay terms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here is a rundown of the bills:<\/p>\n