FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 22, 2002
Alaska students better protected from dangerous diseases
As school resumes, 99 percent of students meet tougher immunization requirements
As a result of concerted efforts by many, 99% of students in school
are now in full compliance with Alaska’s recently strengthened
immunization requirements, according to a new report being released
today as students return to classes across the state.
“I am proud that this monumental effort to get our school
students protected has been an unqualified success,” Commissioner
Jay Livey said. “In the Alaskan tradition, this came about
from a massive cooperative effort by parents, children, child care
facility employees, school employees, and health care providers.”
The new Epidemiology Bulletin, “Immunizations in Alaska – Achievements, Challenges, Opportunities,” reports that stricter immunization requirements were put into place in recent years in response to measles and hepatitis A and B outbreaks in Alaska. Overall, from 2000 to 2001, the number of doses of vaccines distributed to protect children in school and child care facilities increased by 40% -- from 363,040 in 2000 to 507,775 in 2001. “Delivering those vaccines to individual children represents a significant one-year increase in workload, and I commend all health providers, both public and private, for a job well done,” said Karen Pearson, state Director of Public Health.
To protect children and teen-agers against deadly diseases, Alaska
now requires children to be protected from 11 diseases between birth
and age 19. Alaska has significantly increased the number of vaccinations
required and has higher standards in this area than most states.
For example, Alaska is one of only 12 states requiring immunizations
for hepatitis A and, of those, only three others require students
in all grades to have this specific vaccination. Forty-five states
require hepatitis B vaccinations, but Alaska is one of only eight
states requiring students in all grades to have this vaccination.
Since 1980, both the number of Alaskan children ages 0-18 years
and the number of vaccines each should receive to be fully protected
has increased tremendously, Pearson said. “In 1980, there
were 145,000 children, and each needed 9 vaccine doses. In 1994,
we recommended 18 doses and now, in 2002, we have more than 208,000
children, and 25 vaccines are recommended for each child for full
protection – that’s 5.2 million doses.” Two major
public health developments contributed to the rapid growth in the
number of vaccines needed – a measles outbreak in 1998, and
in 2001 new immunization requirements were implemented to combat
Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B, diseases that pose a serious threat
to Alaskan children especially in rural areas.
The Division of Public Health also said today it is redoubling
its efforts on immunizations for infants and toddlers. The age 0-3
year immunization rate has always been lower than school-age immunizations
- nationally and in Alaska - because parents aren’t required
by law to have their children immunized until they attend school
or child care.
“Recent statistics released by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) from their annual National Immunization Survey
of all 50 states pinpoint a priority area that we have to get back
to, and that is the overall immunizations of children ages 0 to
3 years,” Pearson said. “Alaska was ranked 48th of all
states in 1996, and in 2001 we were ranked 38th. That’s a
significant improvement over 1996, but it’s down from our
ranking of 22nd before resources were diverted to the measles outbreak
and the Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B prevention campaigns.”
Those efforts, and the increased demand on public health workers’ time and resources as a result of the anthrax threats following Sept. 11, 2001, were important, but now it’s time to refocus efforts for our children ages 0 to 3 years, Livey said.
Printable copy of this release
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For more information, please contact
Sherry Hill, Special Assistant to the Commissioner for Communications
(907) 465-1611Or
Ross Soboleff
Public Information Officer III
(907) 465-1611
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