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

The current resurgence of measles has been attributed to a failure to vaccinate children. This failure, in turn, has been attributed by some investigators to two causes: inadequate Federal and State financing and inadequate methods for delivering immunizations to isolated populations. Study findings for two rural Tennessee counties suggest that in addition to these limiting factors, faulty procedures within health departments clinics are allowing children to remain unvaccinated despite their having attended the clinic at some time. The analysis suggests that health departments can improve their vaccination services by auditing immunization records; reviewing their clinic practices, recordkeeping methods, and convenience of vaccination clinic hours; and reeducating clinic staff concerning tuberculin testing, simultaneous administration of live virus vaccines, methods for correcting immunization delinquency, the realities of vaccination complications, and the importance of reaching groups at risk for measles.