O’Malley/Brown Ad Focuses on Maryland Families and Healthcare

O’Malley/Brown Announce Plan to Expand Access to Vaccines for
Maryland Families and Children; and Strengthen Vaccine Supply

BALTIMORE, MD (July 26, 2006) – The O’Malley/Brown campaign released a new television ad today focused on improving the affordability, access, and quality of health care for Maryland families. The ad comes as Martin O’Malley and Anthony Brown released the latest in series of health care related policy-initiatives that would make vaccines more readily available to Maryland’s families, children, and seniors and expand the vaccine market in Maryland.

In recent weeks, O’Malley and Brown have released plans to make health insurance more affordable for Maryland families and small businesses, reduce the cost of prescription drugs, address the shortage of nurses in Maryland, and expand stem cell research and funding in Maryland. This latest plan would maximize the number of Maryland families, children and seniors who receive vaccines each year and create a biotechnology task force to further capitalize on Maryland’s biotech industry, and strengthen Maryland’s vaccine supply.

“Vaccines save lives, prevent illness, and protect against natural and man-made outbreaks of lethal disease, yet, sadly, each year too many children and seniors go without vaccines,� said Martin O’Malley. “The Vaccines for Maryland Initiative will ensure that all Maryland families, children and seniors have access to these life-saving vaccines, and that Maryland continues to lead in the field of biotechnology.�

In 2000, the Institute of Medicine concluded that “the public health infrastructure that supports the national vaccine infrastructure is fragile and unstable.� Since that time, the United States has experienced three influenza vaccine shortages and shortages of routinely recommended vaccines against 8 of 11 preventable childhood diseases. In 2005, the Centers for Disease Control found that Maryland ranked 46th among states in flu vaccine coverage. In 2004, Maryland ranked 43rd among states in flu vaccine coverage with fewer-than two-thirds of Maryland’s seniors receiving a flu shot.

To address the critical public health and homeland defense issues caused by vaccine shortages and to capitalize on Maryland’s world-renowned public and private research institutions, the O’Malley/Brown plan would:

  • Initiate an Influenza Vaccine Buy-Back Program: To maximize the number of people who can receive the flu vaccine from their own doctors, the Vaccines for Maryland initiative will pilot an innovative influenza vaccine buy-back program that would allow the State of Maryland to purchase a percentage of a doctor’s unused doses of flu vaccine at a percentage of his or her cost.

  • Develop the Vaccines for Maryland Program: Building on Maryland’s Vaccines for Children program, through which approximately 750 enrolled providers throughout the state provide free vaccinations to qualified children 18 years old and younger, the new Vaccines for Maryland program will ensure access for all Maryland residents to recommended and cost-effective vaccines.

  • Expand Vaccine Performance Measurement Efforts: To measure the success of the Vaccines for Maryland initiative, the state will develop tools to assess rates of vaccination coverage and vaccine-preventable disease. These data will guide outreach and education efforts and inform changes to the initiative over time.

  • Create a Task Force on the Vaccine Industry: To further encourage the vaccine market and capitalize on Maryland’s emerging biotechnology industry, the Vaccines for Maryland initiative will convene a high-level task force to review the business climate for biotechnology and vaccine companies. The task force will include scientists, economists, physicians, and the public. It will advise on incentives and other regulatory changes needed to recruit vaccine-related businesses to Maryland.

After reviewing the O’Malley/Brown plan, Dr. Walter Orenstein, Director, Emory Program for Vaccine Policy and Development and former director of National Immunization Program at CDC, stated, “This is a bold initiative to assure neither children nor adults suffer needlessly from diseases preventable by vaccination. It assures access to life saving vaccines and should stimulate vaccine manufacturing capacity.�

The latest ad released by the O’Malley/Brown campaign entitled “Costs� will run in the Baltimore-media market. The ad will begin running today. Please see the transcript below.

Martin O’Malley for Governor: “Costs�

O’Malley: Working families know that siding with the big insurance companies is not to way to control health care costs.

I say it’s a Governor’s job to put working families and seniors before profits.

That’s why I have a detailed plan to expand coverage for small businesses, make medicine more affordable, improve quality, and help lower costs.

Because strengthening middle-class families starts with health care we can afford.

VO: Martin O’Malley. Governor