Missed Immunization Opportunities

Abstract

We read with great interest the recent studies in Pediatrics on missed opportunities for childhood immunization. Given the current national debate on ways to control health care costs and the recent proposals for federal procurement of all vaccine supplies, it is encouraging and illuminating to know that significant increases in immunization rates might be achieved without tremendous additional expense. One of the major limitations of these studies, clearly acknowledged by the authors of the first but not the second study, was the inability to assess the role of immunization record availability in missed opportunities. Our experience leads us to agree that lack of immunization records contribute to missed opportunities for immunization far more often than the 2% of visits suggested by the first study.