2026 SESSION
ENROLLED
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 24
Designating August, in 2026 and in each succeeding year, as Immunization Awareness Month in Virginia.
Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 11, 2026
Agreed to by the Senate, March 3, 2026
WHEREAS, immunizations, or vaccines, are medical preparations designed to train an individual's immune system to recognize and resist specific diseases or pathogens; and
WHEREAS, vaccines, which are produced through various scientific methods and delivered in multiple formats, work by stimulating an immune response that equips the body to identify and combat disease-causing germs more rapidly and effectively when encountered in the future; and
WHEREAS, English physician Edward Jenner is widely credited with developing the world's first successful vaccine; in 1796, he demonstrated that inoculating individuals with the relatively mild cowpox virus granted one immunity to the far more dangerous and highly contagious smallpox disease; and
WHEREAS, since Jenner's discovery, vaccines have been developed for numerous viral and bacterial diseases, including measles, influenza, polio, hepatitis, human papillomavirus, pertussis, tetanus, and COVID-19, dramatically reducing the incidence of severe illness, long-term disability, and death associated with these conditions; and
WHEREAS, vaccines constitute one of the most consequential achievements in the history of medicine, preventing millions of deaths each year and significantly contributing to the remarkable increase in global life expectancy over the past century and a half; and