August 2025: Vaccine Awareness Month

WHEREAS, vaccination is proven to be a safe, invaluable tool to proactively safeguard public health and prevent the devastating effects of vaccine-preventable diseases; and,

WHEREAS, vaccination has prevented a death every 6 minutes since 1974 (154 million deaths in total), 95 percent were among children younger than 5 years old; and,

WHEREAS, about 4 million deaths worldwide are prevented by childhood vaccination every year; and,

WHEREAS, among children born in the US between 1994–2023, routine childhood vaccinations will have prevented approximately 508 million cases of illness, 32 million hospitalizations, and 1,129,000 deaths; and,

WHEREAS, vaccination has greatly reduced morbidity and mortality by eradicating vaccine-preventable diseases (e.g., smallpox) and has greatly reduced the incidence of infections such as meningitis, measles, polio, and rubella; and,

WHEREAS, timely meningococcal vaccination in children and young adults helps protect against the debilitating effects of meningococcal disease, including death, and has led to a significant decrease in incidence; and,

WHEREAS, vaccination for highly contagious diseases such as measles is incredibly important; in order to achieve community-wide immunity against measles, 95% of the population must be vaccinated; if measles vaccination coverage rates drop below that threshold, outbreaks and preventable deaths will ultimately occur; therefore, maintaining high vaccine coverage rates is critical to protect the public and prevent transmission;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Gretchen Whitmer, governor of Michigan, do hereby proclaim August 2025 as Vaccine Awareness Month in Michigan.