Minority Health and Health Equity Archive

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/21769

Welcome to the Minority Health and Health Equity Archive (MHHEA), an electronic archive for digital resource materials in the fields of minority health and health disparities research and policy. It is offered as a no-charge resource to the public, academic scholars and health science researchers interested in the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities.

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Author: search.filters.author.Bemm, Charles WSubject: search.filters.subject.children

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    Feasibility of Influenza Immunization for Inner-City Children Aged 6 to 23 Months
    (2004) Zimmerman, Richard K; Hoberman, Alejandro; Nowalk, Mary Patricia; Lin, Chyongchiou J; Greenberg, David P; Weinberg, Stuart T; Bemm, Charles W; Block, Bruce
    Background: Annual influenza-related hospitalization rates of children aged <2 years in the United States are second only to those of the elderly. Yet no recommendations existed for vaccinating healthy children aged 6 to 23 months until 2002, when the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices encouraged influenza vaccination for them. This study tested the feasibility of vaccinating 6- to 23-month-old children against influenza and assessed the effect on timely receipt of other vaccines. Methods: A pre–post trial was used in urban health centers serving low-income children. Sites selected interventions from strategies proven to increase vaccination rates. Targeted patients were aged 6 to 23 months by November 30, 2002 (N=1534). Results: Influenza vaccination rates for the 2002–2003 intervention season improved significantly from 6.5% to 38.5% for the first dose (p <0.001). Second-dose rates were significantly improved over preintervention (1.9% preintervention, 13.2% intervention), but lower than first-dose rates. Mean ages at vaccination for other recommended childhood vaccines did not differ or were significantly younger (measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine [MMR] and varicella) for children who received influenza vaccine versus those who did not. Moreover, a higher percentage of influenza-vaccinated than unvaccinated children received MMR, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis vaccine 3 (DTaP3), inactivated poliovirus vaccine 2 (IPV2), and Haemophilus influenzae b (Hib2) vaccines within a 2-month grace period of the recommended age (p <0.039), with no differences between groups for Hib1, DTaP1, IPV1, and varicella. Conclusions: With directed effort, it is possible to increase influenza vaccination at health centers serving low-income children. The addition of a two-dose vaccine was not associated with delayed receipt of other vaccines among these children.