There’s been lots of hand-wringing about Colorado’s record of vaccinating kids against infectious diseases. The statistic cited with most alarm is that in 2002 and 2003, Colorado ranked 50th among states in the percentage of children who’d received 14 recommended vaccinations.
Simple lists aren’t always the best basis for making public policy.
A new study by the Colorado Health Institute took a more nuanced look at immunization and highlighted specific problems:
“Colorado’s immunization rates for 2-year-olds are at or near the federal government’s … objectives for all individual recommended vaccines,” except for the fourth dose of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis.
National vaccine shortages in 2002 and 2003 combined with the state’s inability to pay higher prices for one set of vaccines hurt Colorado’s ranking. (State budget woes had an impact here.)
But many Colorado kids don’t get shots at recommended ages, poor children are less likely to be immunized, there are geographic and cultural pockets of under-immunization, and there remain financial and bureaucratic barriers to immunization.
The report concludes that Colorado needs to do a better job of having children get shots on time, of targeting populations with low immunization rates and of making sure kids get that fourth shot for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis.
State officials are working to improve the vaccination rate, which stood at just over 70 percent last year. (The national rate is nearly 80 percent.) The state health department budget for vaccinations is $22.2 million next year, compared to about $21 million in 2004-05, including federal funds.
The state is giving grants to areas with low vaccination rates and to local health departments to encourage innovative programs. The legislature this year approved a system for notifying parents of when shots are due. And a bilingual awareness campaign will be launched this summer.
Such efforts should improve the state’s performance. Parents also need to do their part to make sure the kids get their shots.
