PEDIATRICS Vol. 63 No. 3 March 1979, pp. 501-502
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Can We Design a Better Immunization Mousetrap?

Edgar K. Marcuse M.D., M.P.H.1

1 Outpatient Department, Children's Orthopedic Hospital and Medical Center; Departments of Pediatrics and Epidemiology, University of Washington Box C5371 Seattle, WA 98105

Our nation's failure to adequately immunize children remains a vexing and embarrassing problem. An article in this issue (p 416) verifies the virtual impossibility of fully immunizing 90% of children by age 2 years. Repeated national immunization surveys have shown that most children receive some immunization by age 2 years.1 The failure results principally from children who enter the health care system and are then lost to follow-up. A 1977 immunization survey in Washington state showed that a single additional visit to a health care provider could have increased the number of two-yean-olds fully immunized from 60% to 82%.2 Part of the solution may lie in simplifying the recommended immunization schedule.