The 317 Coalition advocates for increasing the Federal funding for the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, commonly known as "section 317" of the Public Health Service Act. Section 317 provides a safety net program of grants to states to immunize children, adolescents and adults who have no other means to pay for vaccinations. In the past five years, the national immunization schedule has experienced dramatic increases in the number of vaccines recommended to protect the population against preventable diseases.

Unfortunately, federal funding for the 317 program has not kept pace with the increasing costs of these vaccines.