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Immunizations are one of the safest and
most effective ways to help prevent serious
infectious diseases and save lives. While
immunization coverage among children in
the United States is high, it is imperative
to maintain high levels of vaccination
compliance to prevent resurgences of vaccine-preventable
diseases.
Currently, more than 20 percent of 2-year-olds
within the United States are still missing
one or more
recommended immunizations.
Vaccine-preventable diseases have a costly
impact, resulting in doctor's visits,
hospitalizations, diability, and premature
deaths. Sick children can also cause parents
to lose time from work.
A few examples of diseases that have
been drastically reduced due to vaccines:
A 1916 polio epidemic in the U.S. killed
6,000 people and paralyzed 27,000 more.
In the early 1950’s, there were
more than 20,000 cases of polio annually.
In 1955 polio vaccination began, virtually
eliminating polio in our nation. The success
of the polio vaccine campaign in the U.S.
and other countries has lead to a word-wide
effort to eliminate this dreaded illness.
For more about polio and polio vaccine,
see:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/polioandpostpoliosyndrome.html#overviews
Measles is one of the most easily spread
infectious diseases in the world. 90 percent
of people not immune to measles will contract
the virus if exposed.1 Measles is often
thought of as a mild illness, but it can
cause sequellae such as sever scarring,
encephalitis (brain inflammation) and
death. If the measles vaccine was discontinued
in the United States, 3-4 million measles
cases would occur annually and result
in more than 1,800 deaths, 1,000 cases
of encephalitis, and 80,000 cases of pneumonia.
Before implementation of the VZV (chicken
pox) vaccination program, an annual 4
million cases, 11,000 hospitalizations
and 100 deaths were attributable to VZV-preventable
diseases. Every dollar spent on varicella
vaccine saves 90 cents in direct medical
savings and $5.40 in indirect costs.
One third of lifelong hepatitis B virus
infections (which can lead to liver failure
and death) result from infections in infants
and young children. Every dollar spent
on hepatitis B vaccine saves 50 cents
in direct medical savings and $3.10 in
indirect costs.
Infectious diseases remain important
causes of preventable illness in the United
States despite significant reductions
in incidence in the past 100 years. Vaccines
are among the safest and most effective
preventive measures. This measure indicates
health centers level of compliance with
current public health and accepted evidence-based
medical treatment protocols and prevention
standards.
See: http://www.cdc.gov/nip/ACIP/default.htm
Child Schedule: http://www.cdc.gov/nip/recs/child-schedule.htm
http://www.qualitymeasures.ahrq.gov/summary/summary.aspx?doc_id=446
Note that although the measure is still
based on the “43133” panel
of antigens, the current schedule actually
also calls for Varicella (VZ) x 1 and
Pneumococcal Conjugate (PCV) x 4 doses;
also Hib can be 3 or 4 doses depending
on product used. See:
See: http://www.ncqa.org/Docs/SOHCQ_2005.pdf
(p. 32 – combination 1 vs. combination
2)
http://www.qualitymeasures.ahrq.gov/summary/summary.aspx?doc_id=447
http://www.qualitymeasures.ahrq.gov/summary/summary.aspx?doc_id=7440
This measure is also in the Health Disparities
Collaborative, Prevention Pilot, Measure
#5a http://healthdisparities.net/hdc/html/collaboratives.topics.prevention.asp
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