Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 5, 1993 TAG: 9302050037
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ATLANTA LENGTH: Medium
CHILD-VACCINATION SYSTEM WEIGHED
Immunization experts said Thursday the United States should follow Britain's example in tracking down all the preschoolers President Clinton wants to vaccinate for free.British newborns are automatically assigned a doctor and a social service worker to ensure they are immunized, while many infants in this country leave the hospital and don't see a doctor again for years, the specialists said.
"In the United Kingdom, the responsibility for the child is not solely the responsibility of the parent," said Dr. Walter Orenstein, immunization director for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "They make their system more user-friendly."
Immunization experts from the CDC and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation meeting in Atlanta said Clinton's proposal that the government distribute free childhood vaccines means unvaccinated youngsters under age 2 must be found in a hurry.
"You still have to get that vaccine into a child, and that doesn't automatically happen," said Bill Watson of All Kids Count, a $9.3 million Johnson Foundation program to find innovative tracking methods.
Orenstein said the CDC has told Clinton administration officials they need a tracking program. The Atlanta-based agency will offer ideas for finding preschoolers and create a national registry of immunization records, he said.
All U.S. children must be immunized to enter public school. Doctors recommend they get the shots by age 2, but fewer than 60 percent do. And only about 10 percent in inner-city neighborhoods get inoculated, though most already can get free shots from the government because they're poor.
In Britain, each newborn is assigned a doctor. Two weeks later, a social service workers visits the home, enters the child on a national computer registry and explains immunizations.
When the child is due for a shot, a computer notice is automatically sent to the home. If the child doesn't come in, a nurse goes to the home and may give the vaccination there.
British doctors also receive a $2,500 bonus when 90 percent of their preschool patients are immunized. In 1991, 77 percent of England's doctors achieved that goal.