Immunization Outreach Program in Health Maintenance Organization
1 Department of Pediatrics, Share Health Plan, St Paul
Active immunization is one of the most vital, cost-effective tools available for the reduction of morbidity and mortality from infectious disease.1 It is the joint obligation of physicians, parents, public health officials, and school authorities to ensure delivery of this component of preventive health care to children.2 In some states the immunization rate has been improved by laws that require completion of vaccinations before entrance to school.3,4 In Minnesota, where protection against measles and rubella is mandatory before children start school, the State Department of Health reported that 84.8% of 55,674 children surveyed in the fall of 1976 were adequately immunized against diphtheria, 84.9% against tetanus, 84.2% against pertussis, 85.2% aginst polio, 74.2% against mumps, 97.8% against measles, and 97.8% against rubella.




