THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 1, 1994 TAG: 9410010276
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DEBRA GORDON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
A Norfolk group is forging ahead with its mission to improve the city's dismal vaccination rate, even as the federal government has reneged on its promise to provide vaccines for all American children.
The much-touted, federally funded Vaccines for Children program begins today in a shrunken form. As originally proposed, private doctors would have provided free vaccines to uninsured children.
But problems with getting the vaccines to private physicians, coupled with financial cuts, mean the vaccines will be offered only to uninsured children or those on Medicaid through public health centers - where free vaccines have already been available for more than 20 years. Making them available in private physician offices would have increased accessibility.
``There really is no difference to the consumer,'' agreed Dr. Martin Cader, director of the division of communicable disease control for the Virginia Health Department. ``The only difference is the funding source.''
Eventually, he said, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, which coordinates the vaccination program, will distribute vaccines to private physician offices.
But a Norfolk coalition of parents, medical professionals, military representatives and community activists isn't waiting for any more federal promises. Its members are tackling the problem themselves with such esoteric weapons as free bus passes, immunization clinics in city schools and transport vans in public housing complexes.
The Consortium for the Immunization of Norfolk's Children - also known as CINCH, a coordinated effort between Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters' Center for Pediatric Research, and the Eastern Virginia Medical School - found in a survey last year that cost is not the main reason more than half of the city's 2-year-olds don't have all their vaccinations.
Instead, their survey showed, access, support, education and communication were to blame.
Under state law, students cannot be admitted to public and private schools, and licensed day-care centers, until they show proof of immunization against major childhood diseases - including polio, tetanus, whooping cough, measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria and a type of meningitis caused by haemophilus influenza type B.
In some cases, these diseases can be fatal. All but tetanus are contagious. But inoculations will prevent all of them.
Bringing together such a diverse group of people through CINCH, says director Ardythe L. Morrow, has resulted in some innovative ideas for getting more children vaccinated.
For instance, the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority has a van it uses to transport senior citizens in public housing to doctors' appointments. ``Why can't we use that van for parents and their children for vaccinations?'' suggested one member during a CINCH meeting, and the idea was adopted.
Because access to public health clinics is a problem, the coalition organized immunization clinics in five elementary schools during late afternoons and early evenings in April. More than 300 children were vaccinated. As a result, the public health department is arranging for seven of its full-time, on-site school nurses to provide immunizations to students' siblings before and after school. ``That is something that's innovative for anywhere in the country,'' Morrow said.
Eventually, many of the innovations will be expanded regionally. But the stipulations of the $596,500 grant the Norfolk Department of Public Health received to organize CINCH limit its activities to Norfolk. ILLUSTRATION: Staff color graphic
RECOMMENDED AGES FOR CHILDHOOD IMMUNIZATION
Source: Adapted from the 1994 Red Book of the American Association
of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases
For copy of graphic, see microfilm
KEYWORDS: CHILDHOOD IMMUNIZATIONS VACCINE VACCINATIONS
by CNB