State short up to $1.2 million for child immunization

Wednesday, Oct. 6, 1999 | 10:16 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- An extra $760,000 to $1.2 million will be needed early next year to keep the state's child immunization program going through June, a legislative health committee was told Tuesday.

State Health Administrator Yvonne Sylva said her agency would ask the Legislative Interim Finance Committee for an emergency appropriation so children's health would not be endangered.

Without the additional money the program would be in "dire straits," Sylva said. Contingency plans will be developed if the funds don't come, she said.

About $5 million is spent each year to buy various vaccines for children, but because of the increase in population, higher drug prices and uncertain federal funds, extra state money is needed, she said.

The federal government provides 75 percent of the funds, but the appropriations bill is still stuck in Congress. The state won't know how much it will receive until that is passed. In addition, federal funding has leveled off in the past few years.

Charlotte Crawford, director of the state Department of Human Resources, said the 1999 Legislature was aware of the possible shortage and told the agency to come back and ask for the funds if an emergency arose.

About $4.5 million is left in the legislative emergency fund that started last July with $8 million.

Sylva told the committee that 78.5 percent of 2-year-old children in Nevada received the shots in 1998, up from the 34 percent in 1990. The national average is 81 percent, putting Nevada 37th among the states. But she said many states were grouped closely around Nevada.

To illustrate the results, Sylva presented a chart that showed cases of hepatitis B fell from 291 in 1990 to 81 in 1998; measles dropped from 237 cases to zero last year and mumps was down from 18 cases in 1990 to 14 cases last year. But pertussis rose from three cases in 1990 to 41 cases in 1998.

Sylva said the division must concentrate more on protecting children against pertussis.

To immunize one child from birth until the child enters school costs the state $186 in vaccines, which it purchases at discount rates. For example, the recommended four polio shots cost $6.99 each. Chicken pox vaccine costs $35 and a dose of the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella costs $14.

The division dispenses the vaccine free statewide. Those who give the shots are limited to charging $15 for the administration.

The subcommittee, headed by Assemblywoman Ellen Koivisto, D-Las Vegas, heard a report from Janice Wright, director of the state Division of Health Care Financing, that the number of children enrolled in "Nevada Check Up" has risen to 7,241 with 500 more applications now being processed.

When the program started a year ago, there were 1,603 children enrolled. It provides medical coverage to children of the working poor for a nominal premium. Wright said a number of initiatives are under way to increase the number of children in the plan.

The Legislature allocated enough money to cover 11,500 children by June 30, 2001. Wright suggested enrollment will reach 10,000 by February or March. Fifty-three percent of the children come from Clark County; 20 percent from Washoe and the rest from rural Nevada.