High rates of vaccine coverage among populations, such as children, are important for immunizations to provide herd immunity.a

In 2006, we found statistically significant differences (i.e., disparities) in immunization coverage rates between two-year-old children in the city of Saskatoon based on where they lived.

A grant was obtained from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), in partnership with Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC), in early 2007 to fund an intervention to increase immunization coverage rates among young children. The intervention, the ‘immunization reminders project’, involves contacting the parents/guardians of 14-month-olds and 20-months olds in the Saskatoon Health

Region (SHR) who are behind in their immunizations.

Since 2007, other interventions aimed at increasing childhood immunization coverage rates have been introduced in SHR (e.g., SHR’s Building Health Equity Program). However, this report focuses only the effectiveness of the ‘immunization reminders project’.