Immunization outreach in an inner-city housing development: reminder-recall on foot.

OBJECTIVE

To determine rates of immunization coverage among children 3 to 72 months of age in a large public housing development, to develop a community-based outreach program to increase coverage, and to evaluate the effect of the program.

DESIGN

A door-to-door canvass of the development by specially trained emergency medical technicians to enroll families, to determine immunization status from written records, and to follow-up to encourage immunizations and well-child care. The program was evaluated, comparing rates of immunization by age with an expectation based on the immunization histories before enrollment.

SETTING

A Chicago public housing development, October 1993 through December 1996.

OUTCOME VARIABLES

Antigen-specific and series-specific coverage based on written records.

RESULTS

Of the caregivers, 92% were able to identify a primary care provider. At the time of enrollment, 37% of 1075 children were up-to-date, but that proportion varied by age with 27% of children 19 to 35 months of age being up-to-date. The program increased rates of immunization compared with the expectation from the preenrollment rates. At their final assessment, 50% of the children were up-to-date. For individual vaccines, there was a positive program effect. For example, before enrollment, 22% of children 15 months of age had received measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine. However, 39% of children who were enrolled in the program before they were 12 months of age had received their first immunizations by 15 months of age.

CONCLUSIONS

Children in the housing development had very low rates of immunization before enrollment. An in-person intervention was effective in reaching families and determining immunization status. In the 3-year enrollment and observation period, rates of immunization increased.