P1047 - Facing the Fumes: Community Advocacy to Address a Youth Vaping Crisis

Background:
Vaping is an epidemic among teens. In 2019, nearly 25.6% of Florida high school students reported currently vaping which caused more than 60 deaths and 2600 lung injuries. More than half of these patients being under the age of 24. In the past year, our pediatric program has cared for several teenagers with vaping related illnesses, some even required mechanical ventilatory support. Seeing these previously healthy teens struggling to breath is the motivation behind this project. The primary aim of this project was to reduce children’s access to vaping products and to increase awareness about the impact of the youth vaping crisis to the community and other health care providers.

Methods:
An initial phase included a comprehensive literature search. Next, we identified relevant stakeholders and youth to inform the work of this initiative. Collaboratives were formed with local organizations including Tobacco Free Jacksonville, Drug Free Duval and the American Lung Association to create a local task force. We identified outlets to target to promote awareness of the issues. Review of current legislative bills to identify vaping related policies was also performed. Advocacy goals and objectives were developed (Table 1).

Results:
Increased community awareness was achieved through the publication of letters in local and international newspapers providing vaping information on stakeholder websites and presentation at local and regional conferences. Through this work, we participated in the first regional meeting to address the youth vaping epidemic, attended by 100 community leaders, teenagers, health care providers and other stakeholders. These activities culminated in participation with the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (FCAAP) at Children’s Week in Tallahassee, Florida, to advocate for SB 810, a bill that was passed and will increase the minimum age of tobacco use and vaping to 21 years old. This new law will potentially save more than 25% of our teenagers who would not have access to vaping.

Conclusion:
This work resulted in increased awareness among health care providers and the community about the dangers of vaping among children. It was also part of a statewide effort to pass Florida Bill SB 810, which restricts access to vaping products to those 21 years and older.
Ongoing collaboration with more stakeholders at the local, regional and national level is needed to solve the youth vaping epidemic. Next steps should include: Involving schools and colleges to increase awareness about vaping harm, development of a peer to peer educational campaign led by community youth and coordinating efforts with the FCAAP to advocate for state level policy change. As pediatricians our voice is powerful and effective in educating the community on health risks related to vaping and we must therefore continue to work as an ally in this fight.