Vaccine Shortages Affect Child Immunization Programs

Newswise — Shortages in 2001 and 2002 caused public health officials to suspend critical child immunizations, according to a new report.

Diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough and pneumococcal disease vaccines were among the recommended immunizations in critically short supply by February 2002.

To deal with the shortage, state and city immunization managers limited their vaccine orders from manufacturers, sent out partial orders to their clients and shifted deliveries to high-priority providers like hospitals, say Shannon Stokley, M.P.H., and colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the January issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Nearly 70 percent of national immunization managers suspended tetanus-diphtheria vaccine requirements for school enrollment and some day care and Head Start programs eased their vaccine enrollment requirements.

There is "a risk that this strategy may be difficult to reverse once the vaccine supply returns to normal," Stokley cautions.

The national vaccine advisory committee also recommended that physicians and other providers limit or temporarily halt pneumococcal, tetanus-diphtheria and diphtheria-pertussis vaccinations.

However, only 16 percent of the providers interviewed for the study complied with the recommendation, and few kept records of which children would need vaccines after the shortage ended.

Although providers should resume routine schedules for tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, measles, mumps, rubella and chicken pox, some children may never receive missed vaccine doses, Stokley says.

Health care providers who saw more than 20 patients per week and those working in states where not all vaccines were purchased by the state were more likely to report problems ordering and receiving vaccines, the researchers found.

FOR MORE INFORMATIONHealth Behavior News Service: (202) 387-2829 or http://www.hbns.org.Interviews: Contact Shannon Stokley at [email protected].American Journal of Preventive Medicine: Contact the editorial office at (858) 457-7292.