More WIC Interventions Could Remedy Shortfall In Vaccination Coverage.(Brief Article)

2001 JUN 6 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) --

by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Children who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) are less likely than their affluent counterparts to be up to date on their immunizations at age two, according to a study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Some vaccine interventions with WIC participants have been highly successful, however, and CDC researchers suggested expanding on those to get vaccine coverage where it ought to be among poorer children.

A.M. Shefer and associates found a vaccine coverage gap of 7.9% nationally among children who had participated in WIC at some time in their lives and those who had not. In some states, that difference rose to more than 10%.

The researchers analyzed demographic data, WIC status, and vaccination histories from the National Immunization Survey for children who were 24 to 35 months old in 1999 and from state WIC and immunization program directors.

Children's health care providers verified and completed vaccination data for 15,766 children, of whom 7783 (49%) had participated in WIC some time in their lives.

"We defined children as up-to-date (UTD) if they had received four doses of diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and pertussis vaccine (DPT), three doses of poliovirus vaccine, one dose of measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR), and three doses of Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine (Hib) by 24 months," reported Shefer and coworkers.