Established in 1997, the Vaccines and Immunization Work Group (VIWG) of AHIP guides all Vaccines, Immunization and Specialty Pharmaceutical Initiative activities, and is comprised of member health insurance plan leaders with experience and interest in vaccine and immunization. The mission of the VIWG is to assist the health insurance plan community in improving immunization rates and decreasing vaccine-preventable disease in children, adolescents, and adults.
The Vaccines and Immunization Work Group:
- Serves as an advisory body to AHIP on issues related to immunization and the AHIP Vaccines, Immunization and Specialty Pharmaceutical Initiative;
- Monitors, analyzes and provides comment on national immunization recommendations and their effect on the health insurance plan community;
- Identifies, prioritizes, showcases, and promotes health insurance plan activities and model programs to improve immunization rates;
- Disseminates timely, accurate information on health insurance plan and national immunization programs, activities and performance;
- Represents health insurance plans through member participation in key national groups that address immunization policy and programming for the nation at large, such as CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), and the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC);
- Provides comment on all AHIP presentations to ACIP and NVAC work groups addressing emerging vaccines and related issues;
- Endorses and helps to develop all AHIP adopted vaccine and immunization policy and position statements;
- Advises member health insurance organizations of the impact of proposed legislation/regulation on vaccines or immunization; and
- Serves as an educational resource to national organizations unfamiliar with the operations of the health insurance plan community.
