Hepatitis B Program in Hawaiian Schools Increases Vaccine Rate.(Brief Article)

2001 JAN 31 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In the middle and late 1990s, investigators at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headed a collaborative vaccination effort that attempted to increase the "catch-up" rate for school children who had not received all three hepatitis B virus vaccines.

A report of the program, which was highly successful, was presented at a recent annual meeting of the American Public Health Association.

The program was directed towards fifth graders in the school years that began in 1996 and 1997, and then towards fourth and fifth graders in 1998. School children in all of the public schools and in 83% of the private schools were targeted during the vaccine campaign. Prior to sending out consent forms to be signed by parents, research collaborators conducted public awareness campaigns in Hawaii.

Public awareness of the HBV vaccine campaign influenced a large number of parents to seek vaccinations for their children from alternate providers, said Steven M.D. Terrel-Perica, of the CDC's National immunization Program. "In 1996-1997, consent for HepB was received for 12,040 of 15,455 children enrolled (84%). This decreased to 58% (8,719/15,323) in 1997-1998 and to 28% (8,512/30,920) in 1998-1999. A survey showed that this decrease was due largely to children already completing the three-dose series through a health care provider," researchers said.

Research associates from the ...