Nationally Recognized Program to Increase Child Immunization Rates Highlights National Infant Immunization Week April 25 through May 1, 2004

MARSHFIELD, Wis. -- Two Wisconsin counties are first in the nation to get more than 90 percent of 2-year-old children up to date on their immunizations, thanks to the Regional Early Childhood Immunization Network (RECIN), a service of Marshfield Clinic, one of the largest private multi-specialty clinics in the nation.

RECIN, developed by Marshfield Clinic in 1995, securely shares computerized immunization information with many doctors' offices, public health departments and schools to prevent missed immunizations or over-immunization. The program can be used by communities throughout the United States.

"Ensuring proper immunization rates is a challenge because children often go to different providers for immunizations and there is no efficient way to assess immunization status and identify kids who are under-immunized," said Edna DeVries, MD, RECIN medical director. "This program helps parents and healthcare providers know whether immunizations are current and which ones are due."

The system generates a record of every immunization a child has received and issues reminders for parents when an immunization is needed. Working with its many providers, RECIN is helping reach the federal goal of 90 percent up-to-date immunizations by 2010. About 95 percent of children in the United States begin the recommended series of immunizations, but only 70 percent complete the series by age 2.

RECIN was honored in 2002 with the first-ever national Protect Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Immunization Program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The award recognizes immunization registries as tools that help protect children from vaccine- preventable diseases.

National Infant Immunization Week emphasizes immunizing infants against 12

vaccine-preventable diseases by age 2. For more information visit http://www.cdc.gov/nip .

For more information about RECIN, visit http://www.recin.org or

http://www.marshfieldclinic.org .

Source: Marshfield Clinic