Urges State citizens to stay up-to-date on vaccinations.

SR90

SENATE RESOLUTION No. 90

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED MARCH 19, 2026

Sponsored by:

Senator� JOSEPH F. VITALE

District 19 (Middlesex)

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 and Prevention (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 and Prevention (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.��