Fact Sheet: President Clinton Launches New Effort to Increase Immunization Rates Among Children Nationwide (12/11/00)
PRESIDENT CLINTON LAUNCHES NEW EFFORT TO INCREASE IMMUNIZATION RATES AMONG
                            CHILDREN NATIONWIDE
    Builds Upon Unprecedented Progress to Target Children at High Risk
                             December 11, 2000

Today, President Clinton, joined by former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, will
take strong new action to increase immunization rates among children
nationwide.  In an effort to build on the Clinton-Gore Administration?s
unprecedented progress in improving immunization rates, the President will
issue an executive memorandum directing the Department of Agriculture
(USDA) to assess the immunization status of the five million children under
the age of five participating in the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
program and refer them to a health care provider when appropriate.  This
memorandum will also direct USDA and Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) to develop a national strategic plan to ensure more
accurate and cost-effective immunization assessment, referral, and
follow-up for children at risk.  In addition, President Clinton will
announce that the American Academy of Pediatrics will instruct its 55,000
members to emphasize the importance of timely immunizations to their
WIC-eligible patients and encourage them to take their records with them
when they visit the WIC clinic so that WIC staff can assess their
immunization needs.

CHILDHOOD IMMUNIZATION RATES ARE AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH, BUT MORE NEEDS TO BE
DONE.  Under the leadership of the Clinton-Gore Administration, childhood
immunization rates have reached all-time highs, with 90 percent or more of
America's toddlers receiving the most critical vaccines by age two.
Vaccination levels are nearly the same for preschool children of all racial
and ethnic groups, narrowing a gap estimated to be as wide as 26 percentage
points a generation ago.  Despite these impressive gains, however,
immunization levels in many parts of the country are still too low.

?    Immunization rates for low-income, minority children are consistently
lower than the national average.  According to the CDC, low-income,
minority children are less likely to be immunized than their counterparts.
In fact, immunization rates in certain inner-city areas are at or below 65
percent, placing children at high risk for potentially deadly diseases such
as diphtheria, poliomyelitis, measles, mumps, and rubella.  These diseases
are associated with birth defects, paralysis, brain damage, hearing loss,
and liver cancer.  In some of these urban areas, immunization rates are 20
percent below the national average.

?    Areas with lower-than-average immunization rates are at increased risk
of potentially deadly disease outbreaks.  Nationwide, there are a number of
inner-city areas where childhood immunization rates remain significantly
below the national average.  These ?pockets of need,? which are home to
traditionally underserved populations, are at high risk for disease
outbreaks such as the measles epidemic of 1989.

?    Many under-immunized children are served by the WIC program.  State
data indicate that in 41 states, the immunization rates for children
enrolled in WIC are lower than the rates for other children in their age
group ? in some cases, by as much as 20 percent. The WIC program, which
serves 45 percent of infants nationwide and more than five million children
under the age of five, is the single largest point of access to health
services for low-income preschool children who are at the highest risk for
low vaccination coverage.

PRESIDENT CLINTON TAKES STRONG NEW ACTION TO IMPROVE CHILDHOOD IMMUNIZATION
RATES.  Today, President Clinton will issue an executive memorandum that:

?    Directs the WIC program to conduct an immunization assessment on every
child applying for services.  WIC, run by USDA, provides access to food
stamps, dairy and other food products, and nutritional counseling to
low-income women, infants and children.  Together with CDC, the WIC program
will develop a standardized procedure to include in the WIC certification
process in order to evaluate the immunization status of every child
applying for WIC services using a documented immunization history.
Children who are determined to be behind schedule on their immunizations,
or who do not have their immunization record, will be referred to a local
health care provider or public health clinic as appropriate.  Children who
are uninsured receive vaccinations at no cost under the Vaccines for
Children program.  Studies indicate that linking immunization services with
WIC improves vaccination coverage by up to 40 percent within 12 months.

?    Ensures that WIC staff are able to conduct immunization assessments
accurately and efficiently.  The CDC will develop user-friendly
immunization materials designed to ensure that information on appropriate
immunization schedules is easily accessible and understandable for WIC
staff conducting nutritional risk assessments.  WIC staff should be trained
to use these materials by state and local public health authorities.

?    Develops a blueprint for future action to improve the immunization
rates of children at risk.  The President will direct HHS and USDA to
develop a national strategic plan to improve the immunization rates of
children at risk, to be completed within 60 days. The plan should include
steps to:

?    Expand the availability of automated systems or computer software to
provide WIC clinics with information on appropriate childhood immunization
schedules, with the eventual goal of providing this service in every WIC
clinic nationwide;
?    Disseminate a range of best practices for increasing immunization
rates for low-income children to WIC state and local agencies;
?    Include information on the importance of immunizations and appropriate
immunization schedules in standard WIC efforts to educate families about
breastfeeding, anemia, lead poisoning, and other health-related topics.

?    Evaluate the role other Federal programs serving children can play in
increasing immunization rates. The strategic plan will also evaluate
whether other Federal programs serving children should require a standard
question on immunizations as part of their enrollment processes, and if
appropriate, develop a plan for implementing new requirements.

PRESIDENT CLINTON PRAISES THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS? NEW ACTION TO
IMPROVE IMMUNIZATION RATES.  Today, the American Academy of Pediatrics will
advise its 55,000 members to remind their WIC-eligible patients of the
importance of timely immunizations and asking these patients to bring their
immunization records with them when they visit the WIC clinic.  Providing
complete and documented immunization histories to WIC providers ensures
that staff can efficiently and accurately evaluate a child?s immunization
status and refer them to a health care provider if appropriate.

BUILDS ON THE CLINTON-GORE ADMINISTRATION?S LONGSTANDING COMMITMENT TO
IMPROVING CHILDHOOD IMMUNIZATION RATES.  In 1992, fewer  than 55 percent of
children under the age of three had received the full course of
vaccinations.  In order to address the dangerously low level of
immunizations nationwide, President Clinton launched the Childhood
Immunization Initiative, which helped make vaccines affordable for families
through the Vaccines for Children Program, eliminated barriers preventing
children from being immunized by their primary care provider, and improved
immunization outreach. As a result, childhood immunization rates have
reached all-time highs, with 90 percent or more of America's toddlers
receiving the most critical vaccines by age two.  Vaccination levels are
nearly the same for preschool children of all racial and ethnic groups,
narrowing a gap estimated to be as wide as 26 percentage points a
generation ago.  In addition, the Clinton-Gore Administration recently took
action to provide enhanced federal funding for those states wishing to
develop immunization registries.  During the Clinton-Gore Administration,
funding for childhood immunization efforts has more than doubled since
1993.

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