Sponsored by:
Senator JOSEPH F. VITALE
District 19 (Middlesex)
Senator ANDREW ZWICKER
District 16 (Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senators Johnson and Moriarty
SYNOPSIS
Urges State citizens to stay up-to-date on vaccinations.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
A Senate Resolution urging the citizens of the State of New Jersey to stay up-to-date on their vaccinations.
Whereas, To eradicate a preventable disease, vaccines are the most effective when a certain rate of vaccination has been reached within a community; and
Whereas, Declining vaccination rates among children because of various factors such as an increase in religious exemptions have led to outbreaks of measles, whooping cough, and other avoidable illnesses within our communities; and
Whereas, Measles is a highly contagious viral infection and since the development of the measles vaccine, an estimated 57 million people have been saved from measles; and
Whereas, Once declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, measles has once again gained a foothold in the country; and
Whereas, An estimated 222 cases of measles have been reported across the United States from January 1, 2025 to March 6, 2025 compared to a total of 285 reported cases for all of 2024, and 94 percent of the reported cases reported in 2025 were among children and adults who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown; and
Whereas, As of March 7, 2025, there have been three measles cases reported in the State in 2025 and a total of seven cases were reported in the State in 2024; and
Whereas, In 2024, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) announced that only 93 percent of kindergarteners in the United States had received their measles vaccination, falling two percent short of the threshold of 95 percent needed to prevent transmission; and
Whereas, Vaccination rates in New Jersey school-age children across all surveyed grades have steadily declined in the last ten years; and
Whereas, The rate of first-grade children in New Jersey meeting all immunizations requirements has decreased the most, declining by 7.5 percent from the 2013-2014 school year to the 2023-2024 school year; and
Whereas, When vaccination rates are too low within a community, an outbreak can occur, affecting our families, neighbors, loved ones, and put lives on pause or worse; and
Whereas, When the healthy in our community are vaccinated, the most vulnerable in our communities, the elderly, newborns, and immunocompromised peoples, are also protected by the community immunity that comes from most of the community being vaccinated; and
Whereas,
To protect the health of the citizens of this State, the New Jersey State
Senate urges its citizens to become vaccinated; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey:
1. The New Jersey State Senate makes application to the citizens of this State to help protect their communities from vaccine-preventable diseases and become vaccinated.
2. The Department of Health is urged to take measures to increase awareness of the measles outbreak in New Jersey and the importance of becoming vaccinated such as by developing and disseminating a mailer containing vaccination information and resources on where to become vaccinated to the residents of the State.
3. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of this State, shall be transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate to the Governor, each member of the New Jersey State Legislature, and the Commissioner of Health.
4. This resolution shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This resolution urges the citizens of the State of New Jersey to become vaccinated. Once declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, measles has once again resurfaced in the country. In 2024, there were a total of 285 reported cases of measles in the United States. For 2025, the number of reported cases has reached 222 in the first three months alone and new cases continue to be reported every day. New Jersey has had three reported cases in 2025.
Declining vaccination rates across the country and in New Jersey have played a role in these outbreaks. Ninety-four percent of the cases reported in 2025 were among children and adults who were not vaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown. In 2024, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) declared that only 93 percent of kindergarteners had received their measles vaccination, falling two percent below the threshold needed for community immunity to prevent widespread transmission of the disease. The rate of New Jersey kindergarteners meeting all vaccination requirements has decreased by 3.6 percent from the 2013-2014 school year to the 2023-2024 school year and the percentage of first-graders in New Jersey meeting all vaccination requirements experienced the biggest decrease within the same time period, falling by 7.5 percent.