News

New Mexico Honored as 'Most Improved State' by the National Immunization Program, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - (March 2005)

Childhood immunization coverage rates in New Mexico have improved dramatically in the past two years - our rates for the 4:3:1:3:3 cumulative vaccine series (4 doses of DTaP vaccine, 3 doses of polio vaccine, 1 dose of MMR vaccine, 3 doses of Hib vaccine , and 3 doses of Hepatitis B vaccines) have risen by 16.7%, from a low of 61.2 % to the current rate of 77.9%. This translates into about 4500 more 2 year old children up-to-date with their immunizations than were up-to-date just two years ago.

In March during the National Immunization Conference held in Washington DC, New Mexico was honored by CDC's National Immunization Program as the 'Most Improved State' between 2000 and 2004, citing an increase of 13.4% in our 4:3:1:3:3 rates. Accepting the Award on behalf of New Mexico were Dr. Steve Nickell, NM Immunization Program Manager; Anne Lutz, the NM Immunization Program CDC Public Health Advisor; and Anna Pentler, Executive Director of the New Mexico Immunization Coalition.

During the meeting, several of the 'most improved' programs were invited to an informal round table discussion with National Immunization Program representatives to discuss successful strategies that each used to improve their rates. Anna Pentler of NMIC began the NM discussion by mentioning the incredible support, both moral and financial, shown by Governor Bill Richardson and First Lady Barbara Richardson to immunization improvement activities across the state. She also mentioned some of the activities sponsored by the NM Immunization Coalition, including the innovative mini-grant program that provides small grants to community groups to support immunization activities and the annual NMIC-sponsored NM Provider Awards events. Pentler is currently leading the planning of this year's National Infant Immunization Week's kick-off events to be held April 28-30, 2005, with activities planned in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. This year's NM Provider Awards Dinner will be co-sponsored by the Dona Ana County Immunization Coalition and held in Las Cruces on the evening of April 29th.

NM Program Manager Steve Nickell discussed several of NM's unique improvement strategies, including the Clinical Prevention Initiative's 'Done By One' (DBO) accelerated immunization schedule and the SHOT Team Nurse Initiative. Nickell reported that nearly 70% of NM medical practices queried during the annual provider assessments said that they were 'Always' or 'Sometimes' using the DBO schedule. Furthermore, practices who used the DBO schedule showed significant improvement - they had significantly higher percentages of children completing 4 doses of DTaP and the 4:3:1:3:3 series at 15 months than practices that 'Never' use the DBO schedule. Oklahoma and Louisiana have also implemented NM's 'Done By One' schedule. Oklahoma Program Manager Don Blose mentioned data from Oklahoma indicating similar trends in improvement. Nickell also presented preliminary data on the SHOT Team intervention indicating that practices who had a SHOT Team intervention since the last assessment had greater average improvement than practices who had not had an intervention (23% vs. 12%).

Based on NM's rapid rise in childhood coverage rates, CDC has expressed interest in assisting with evaluation of the DBO and other NM interventions, with the intention of promoting these nationally if significant impact is confirmed. by Steve Nickell, Immunization Program Manager, New Mexico Department of Health

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