A campaign to increase toddler vaccination rates got a shot in the arm Monday.
An agreement with the Merck Vaccine Division will save Utah thousands of dollars while making it easier for Medicaid recipients under age 2 to receive their immunizations.Gov. Mike Leavitt signed the agreement during a news conference Monday.
The vaccines will immunize children for measles, mumps, rubella, bacterial meningitis and hepatitis B.
Under the agreement, doctors who have Medicaid patients will be able to get vaccines directly from the pharmaceutical company. They will notify Medicaid when they use it and Medicaid will pay Merck for the shots. In this way, doctors don't have to advance the costs and then wait for reimbursement - something many have refused to do.
Utah is one of four states that has entered into the agreement, which will make it easier for low-income families to receive the preventive medicine. Many families in the past have had to take their children to health department clinics for the shots, in addition to making regular doctor's visits.
Utah first lady Jacalyn Leavitt has made preschool immunizations her personal cause. She is chairwoman of the Every Child By Two Immunization Task Force. Fewer than half of Utah preschoolers receive their recommended immunization and the state goal is to raise that number to 90 percent, she said.
Besides making the vaccines more readily available, the contract will cut down on paperwork for physicians and save the state about $60,000 (a $240,000 savings including federal funds).
"We can use that money to increase immunization levels in other ways," Jacalyn Leavitt said.