Context: Every year the Philadelphia Department of Public Health selects roughly 5000 10-month olds not up-to-date (UTD) for their 6-month vaccinations for a community-based outreach program.
Objective: To evaluate the outreach program's effectiveness from 2008 to 2012.
Design: Outreach children from 2008 to 2012 were compared with children not selected for outreach on UTD rates and median UTD age in a retrospective cohort study.
Setting: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Participants: : 10- to 15-month olds from targeted Philadelphia ZIP codes.
Intervention: Outreach workers investigated immunization status, educated families on the importance of timely immunizations, and assisted patients in securing health care services to bring children UTD on their 6-month vaccinations.
Main outcome measures: Outcomes included UTD status for recommended vaccinations due by 6, 15, and 18 months and median age at which 15- and 18-month vaccinations were completed for outreach versus nonoutreach children.
Results: Outreach children had significantly higher UTD rates for 6-month vaccinations than nonoutreach children. Outreach children also had significantly higher UTD rates for 15- and 18-month vaccinations, and therefore the effect of outreach is lasting. From 2008 to 2012, median UTD ages for 15- and 18-month vaccinations were significantly lower for outreach than for nonoutreach children.
Conclusions: Outreach was effective in increasing immunization UTD rates and is a useful tool for improving childhood immunization rates in urban settings.