Friday, Dec. 20, 2002 | 11:12 a.m.
The Clark County Health District has ended a 40-year-old practice of offering free childhood vaccines by instituting a $15 administration fee for each visit to its clinic for the immunizations.
The Clark County Health Board, citing cutbacks in state and county funds, on Thursday approved a per-visit fee that will cover employee and sterilization costs but not come close to the $107 the county shells out for a single dose of each of the seven primary childhood vaccines, officials said.
What this means to parents is that they will have to shell out about $60 a year for a series of three to four inoculations for infants to prevent diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria and meningitis. Parents then could apply for refunds through their private insurance companies, Medicaid or services such as Nevada Checkup.
"This is the passing of an era that we did not want to see end," said Fran Courtney, director of clinic and nursing for the Clark County Health District. "However, we are still offering a product that is a great buy -- and a necessity for children before they start school.
"And no child will be turned away because their parents do not have $15."
Courtney said the fee is necessary because of county cutbacks and the reduction of the state's "aid to county" money. This year the health district got just 25 percent of what had been $1.23 million in annual aid to county funds. Next year the district gets none of that money.
Peggy Hensley, longtime immunization coordinator for the district, said Clark County was the only county in the state to provide free immunizations and one of the last in the United States to do so.
"This is especially difficult for the staff," she said. "I got a call today from a woman who said she had no money but needed to get her child immunized. I was proud to say there is no charge, come on in.
"We won't be able to say that next year, but we do not want to see the immunizations drop. We absolutely will immunize any child. We have used the honor system for other services, where we told people to pay us when they could, and many of them did."
The health district estimates that if it collects just half of the administrative fees for immunizations it will raise $336,000 during the first six months of 2003.
The local health district in 2001 provided 212,773 childhood immunization shots to 94,729 children. Despite the huge growth in Clark County's population during the last 10 years, that is only 3,181 more children immunized than in 1991.
"We have seen more families over the years go to their primary care physicians because their insurance covers the cost of immunizations," Courtney said. "While we still are very busy at our immunization clinic, our numbers have not risen at the rate of population growth."
Parents at the health district clinic on Shadow Lane on Thursday saw signs already posted explaining the need for the fee. Some said they do not believe a $15 per-visit charge is going to be a deterrent for parents to immunize their children.
"I don't see it as a problem -- it's worth $15 to make sure your baby is OK," said bartender Chris Dondero, a Las Vegas resident of 13 years. Dondero was with his wife, Chelsea, was getting immunizations for their 22-month-old daughter, Hannah.
"Parents do what they have to do -- if you have to roll nickels and quarters or collect and sell aluminum cans, you just do it."
Michelle White, a single and unemployed mother who moved to Las Vegas three weeks ago from Florida, said she was surprised Thursday to learn the shots were free. She was getting her 2-year-old son Anthony his final baby shots. She said $15 per visit, would not stop her from immunizing her child.
"It will be difficult for some of us, but if I had to I would borrow the money," she said. "Parents will find ways to get their kids shots."
In the last 10 years, the number of major immunizations for children have grown from four -- measles-mumps-rubella, diphtheria-tetanus-accelular pertussis, HIB (meningitis), and polio -- to seven.
It costs the health district $15.64 for a single dose of MMR. A dose of DTAP costs the county $11.75 to $12 depending on the drug company. A dose of HIB costs the county $7.25 to $8.32. A dose of polio costs the county $8.88, Hensley said.
Ten years ago, the polio vaccine was an oral drug that cost the county just $1.92 a dose and was taken once at 15 months. Today, the polio vaccine is given in shot form at two months, four months, six months and again at four to six years old.
The new vaccines to come on line in the last decade are Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B and varicella (chicken pox). Hepatitis A costs the health district $11.15 to $11.40 per dose, Hepatitus B costs $9 to $9.25 and varicella costs the district a whopping $41.44 a dose.
Starting July 1 all students new to Nevada must receive the varicella vaccine before starting school, Courtney said.
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