Failure to vaccinate children against measles during the second year of life. An analysis of immunization practices in two Tennessee county health departments.

Abstract

In many Tennessee counties, children under the care of health departments have low measles vaccination levels. An immunization survey and a health department record audit of 2-year-olds were undertaken in two counties to determine the reasons for this situation. The results indicated that faulty clinic procedures played a large part in the failure to vaccinate against measles. Nearly half of the unvaccinated 2-year-olds with health department records had been present in the health department clinic at the appropriate age for measles vaccination; the remainder had dropped out of the well-child program before their first birthday. Emphasis on tuberculin skin testing and delay in the administration of the basic series of DTP immunizations correlated with the failure to vaccinate against measles. For more than half of the children who attended the clinic after their first birthday, no reason was recorded for the failure to vaccinate them against measles. Improved clinic procedures could bring measles vaccination levels within the acceptable range. These procedures would include new methods for correcting immunization delinquency, simultaneous tuberculin skin testing and measles vaccination of children without a history of tuberculosis exposure, emphasis on vaccinating at-risk groups, and more convenient vaccination clinic hours.