Post00262 VACCINES + IMMUNIZATION 27 June 2000
CONTENT
1. REPORT URGES IMPROVED VACCINATIONS
By LAURAN NEERGAARD,
AP Medical Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) 17 June 2000 via NewsEdge Corporation -
Vaccinations of America's toddlers may be at a record high, but the
immunization system is under critical strain and the country risks disease
outbreaks if it isn't strengthened, a new report says.
Some 11,000 babies are born each day who need shots, thousands of
unvaccinated inner-city children remain at risk of epidemics _ plus there
are millions of unimmunized adults, the Institute of Medicine warned
Thursday.
The institute called on federal and state governments to invest $1.5
billion over the next five years to improve inoculations, about $175
million more per year than is now spent. It's not just to buy vaccines, but
to shore up the public health infrastructure to ensure the most at-risk
people aren't missed.
``We're worried about children falling through the cracks,'' said report
co-author Dr. David Smith, president of Texas Tech University Health
Sciences Center. ``It's very alarming.''
But children aren't the only ones at risk. Up to 70,000 adults die annually
from vaccine-preventable illnesses, mostly flu but also diseases ranging
from pneumonia to hepatitis B, the report said.
The Senate Appropriations Committee asked the IOM, a branch of the National
Academy of Sciences that advises Congress, to investigate vaccinations.
The report ``raises troubling questions,'' said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I. Reed
and nine other senators wrote the committee to urge that next year's
federal vaccine budget, scheduled for a Senate vote in the next few weeks,
include an additional $85 million.
Vaccines are one of medicine's biggest successes, dramatically slashing
disease over the last century. Today, a record 80 percent of toddlers _ the
most vulnerable age group _ have received the most critical vaccinations.
Still, 300 American children die each year of diseases vaccines could have
prevented, the IOM said. Far more are at risk if an outbreak occurs.
Of the 20 percent of uninoculated American toddlers, most are poor, inner-
city children, said Dr. Bernard Guyer of Johns Hopkins University, who
chaired the IOM committee.
For example, less than half of children in East Los Angeles are properly
immunized, vs. three-fourths of all Los Angeles children, the report said.
Worse, a Chicago study found just 36 percent of black children _ and 29
percent of black children in public housing _ were properly immunized,
compared with 59 percent of all Chicago children.
These unvaccinated pockets are a reservoir for future epidemics, just like
the measles outbreak that sickened 43,000 Americans and killed 100 in the
early 1990s, the report warned.
Immunization rates measure just the most critical, longest-used vaccines.
While the number of new childhood vaccines is expected to triple within 25
years, cash-strapped health systems already are having a hard time adding
newer shots, the report said. Only 43 percent of children have been
vaccinated against chickenpox, two years after the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention recommended it.
Plus, only a quarter of adults at risk of influenza complications get a
yearly flu shot, and only 13 percent of lung disease patients get a
pneumonia vaccine, Smith said. ``This is atrocious.''
Lots of problems contribute to these gaps, the report said: Health programs
inadequately track vaccine recipients so health programs don't even know
who to target. Families changing doctors for insurance reasons _ either
private insurers, managed care or Medicaid _ can miss vaccines.
Federal grants supporting state immunization programs have been cut in half
in recent years, the report said. Some states compensated by investing
their own money, while others severely slashed immunization efforts. The
IOM recommended that CDC change vaccine funding to ensure the worst states
get more money _ but that each be required to invest state revenues, too.
Also, the IOM urged Congress to allot $50 million to buy vaccines for
underinsured adults.
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Selected news items reprinted under the fair use doctrine of international
copyright law: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
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