NVIC works to protect the freedom of citizens to exercise the human right to voluntary, informed consent to vaccination. NVIC is calling for government funding of independent researchers without conflicts of interest with vaccine manufacturers or public health agencies to investigate the reported links between vaccines and neurological and autoimmune disorders, including learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, ADD/ADHD, seizure disorders, autism, asthma, diabetes, otitis media, multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease (intestinal bowel disorders), chronic fatigue syndrome, Alzheimer's, cancer, AIDS, Gulf War syndrome (GWS), personality disorders and other autoimmune and brain dysfunction, which has been associated with vaccination. NVIC is also calling for a large, prospective study to compare the long term health outcomes of highly vaccinated children and unvaccinated children. NVIC also supports the institution of an independent public oversight mechanism in the federal government to monitor vaccine research, development, regulation, policy-making and promotion by federal and state public health agencies, as well as to conduct and oversee independent, non-governmental monitoring of adverse health events associated with vaccination.

NVIC is increasing its citizen donor base and seeking philanthropic foundation support to launch a national advertising and public education campaign about vaccination and the need to protect the legal right to make informed, voluntary vaccine decisions. In 2010 NVIC launched it's Advocacy Portal which has analyzed and monitored thousands of pieces of proposed legislation in the U. S. that would expand or make exercising the human right to informed consent to vaccination. This portal has assisted many citizens in developing relationships with their legislators to protect the basic human right to accept, delay or decline any vaccine voluntarily without sanction. Our goal is to inform and empower all Americans with vaccine information that will prevent vaccine injuries and deaths and protect vaccine choices.

The National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) launched the vaccine safety and informed consent movement in America in the early 1980's and is the oldest and largest consumer led organization advocating for the institution of vaccine safety and informed consent protections in the public health system. NVIC works to raise government standards for vaccine licensure and policymaking and monitors and reports on these activities. The National Vaccine Information Center represents citizens from every state that support the principle of informed consent to medical treatment, which has become a central ethical principle in the practice of modern medicine and is applied to medical interventions which involve the risk of injury or death. Our expertise acquired over the past 37 years puts NVIC in the position of being able to continue our efforts at both a state and federal level to protect the human right to exercise informed consent to vaccination. We continue to serve in federal activities related to vaccine policy-making, review and analyze research and educate the public on advocacy needed and how best to protect their rights. Our readership continues to expand, particularly with the more recent launch of our third website, The Vaccine Reaction, which is a weekly journal of vaccine news and commentary that further supports the public's knowledge and understanding of issues relating to informed consent to vaccination.

Since 1982, NVIC has reached millions of families and provided information about diseases and vaccines to thousands of parents, health care providers and other individuals in the U. S. and around the world, who have contacted our organization. As an independent clearinghouse for information on diseases and vaccines, NVIC does not advocate for or against the use of vaccines. We support the availability of all preventive health care options, including vaccines, and the right of consumers to make educated, voluntary health care choices. Many who support our work are not philosophically opposed to the concept of vaccination and do not object to every vaccine. However, they are philosophically opposed to government health officials having the power to intimidate, threaten, and coerce them into violating their deeply held conscientious beliefs in the event they conclude that either vaccination in general or, more commonly, a particular vaccine is not appropriate for their children. Implicit in the concept of informed consent is the right to refuse consent or, in the case of vaccination laws, the right to exercise conscientious, personal belief or philosophical exemption to mandatory use of one or more vaccines. NVIC monitors progress through activity and citizen response from our state level efforts to protect and expand vaccine exemptions to assure proper informed consent protections exist in the practice of vaccination, as well as our participation in federal policy-making activities. To date, these efforts have been effective and very few vaccine mandates have been passed that violate the voluntary exercise of informed consent in the majority of U. S. states. NVIC's readership continues to expand as we provide additional information and resources to the public to support informed vaccine decision-making.

NVIC's co-founders worked with Congress to pass the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. This historic law acknowledged that vaccine injuries and deaths are real and that the vaccine injured and their families should be financially supported and that vaccine safety protections were needed in the mass vaccination system. In 1996, NVIC realized a major goal when, after 14 years of public advocacy, the FDA finally licensed a purified pertussis vaccine (DTaP vaccine) for American babies. In 1999, the live virus polio vaccine (OPV) was replaced by the inactivated polio vaccine and vaccine strain paralytic polio cases were eliminated in America. Co-founders and members of NVIC have represented consumers on the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines, the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, the Institute of Medicine's Vaccine Safety Forum, the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, the Vaccine Policy Analysis Collaborative, and the Consumers United for Evidence-Based Healthcare, Cochrane Collaboration – U. S. Since the launch of NVIC's Advocacy Portal, tens of thousands of individuals have become active in defending and protecting their informed consent rights through advocating with their legislators on the need for medical, religious and conscientious belief vaccine exemptions. Our focus currently is to advocate for the protection and expansion of state vaccine exemptions, as laws that create vaccine mandates and exemptions are created at a state level. From a policy perspective, we provide public comment and participate in federal activities where applicable.