County last in urban areas for toddler vaccinations

Friday, Sept. 15, 2006 | 7:30 a.m.

Nearly a third of Clark County's children between 19 months and 35 months old are not vaccinated at recommended levels - lower than any urban area in the nation, according to a report released Thursday by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report troubled but didn't surprise Nevada health experts. Statewide vaccination levels were ranked in the bottom 10 percent nationally in the 2004 National Immunization Survey. The 2005 survey clarifies that Nevada's real problem is in Clark County, where only 59 percent of the children were vaccinated.

In the rest of the state, 76 percent of children were vaccinated. The goal is 80 percent.

Preventable diseases such as measles, mumps and hepatitis B put young children in the most danger. Fortunately, Clark County has not had any outbreaks, said Dr. Don Kwalick, chief health officer with the Southern Nevada Health District. The Health District serves 1.7 million people. Of those who turn to the district for health care, about 80 percent of the children are immunized.

The 2005 report is the first to poll Clark County among the 28 urban areas nationwide. Kwalick said the agency jumped at the chance to be included in the survey, in order to publicly quantify the risk to the community.

Clark County residents are known for unhealthy living. Shift work and poverty make taking children to the doctor a challenge. And the transient population creates challenges for keeping accurate medical records. But Kwalick doesn't blame the low vaccination level on idiosyncrasies of Las Vegas living. The problem is funding, he said.

"The levels are so low because we really don't have the resources to get the word to the community at large and get the at-risk kids from zero to 3 years old immunized to the recommended levels," Kwalick said.

Elsewhere, local health departments receive 20 to 50 percent of their funding from the state, Kwalick said. The Health District receives about 4 percent of its $65 million budget from state coffers, he said. Legislators need to examine public health funding in the upcoming session, he said.

"The state has just not funded public health programs the way they should be funded in Nevada," Kwalick said.

Nationally, the report showed that childhood immunization rates remain at record highs. State levels varied from 90 percent in Massachusetts to 63 percent in Vermont. The greatest coverage in an urban area was 85 percent in Jefferson County, Ala.

Melissa Ely Moore, public health adviser for the Nevada Health Department, attributed the low immunization numbers to Clark County's rapid growth and mobility, which causes records to "scatter." The number of vaccination providers has increased, she said, but not on pace with the masses moving to the area.

The state's vaccination programs are funded by the federal government. Moore said the Health District receives about half what the state receives for operating its vaccination programs - a figure disputed by Kwalick. Moore said the entire state needs more money, and especially Clark County because of its particular challenges.