Pasadena Immunization Initiative

Description

Under-immunization of two-year old children, adolescents and adults remains a serious health concern for families and communities at-large. In Pasadena, 3 out of 10 two year olds have not received all the vaccinations they need to be protected from childhood diseases like measles, chickenpox and Hepatitis B. Adolescent and adults are not fully immunized to remain healthy. The Pasadena Immunization Program implements four projects, the Pasadena Immunization Coalition (PIzC), the Los Angeles Immunization Network (LINK), the Minority Immunization Initiative (MII) and the Immunization Action Grant (IAG), to increase immunization awareness in the community and to create institutional change in how health care providers administer, record and track immunizations. The PIzC is a partnership of health care providers, CBOs, hospitals, schools, vaccine manufacturers, health plans and concerned citizens committed to protecting the health of all Pasadena residents from the threats of vaccine-preventable diseases. Through the concerted efforts of the PIzC members, numerous educational projects targeting public and private health care workers and the general community are offered in Pasadena each year. The Program partners with the Los Angeles County, Long Beach City and Orange County Health Departments to market, train and support health care providers in using LINK, an online computerized database that tracks and shares immunization records, to improve immunization service delivery and overall coverage rates. The MII conducts community outreach activities to increase African American and Latino access and on-going utilization of immunization services. The IAG provides free vaccines and technical assistance to help non-profit healthcare providers offer quality immunization services. The Program is committed to the health of Pasadena residents and strives to meet the 2010 Healthy People goal of 90% up-to-date immunization for infants by 24 months and 90% up-to-date rate for the flu and pneumococcal vaccinations in adults. PIzC is program of the Pasadena Public Health Department and the State of California Dept. of Health Svcs, Immunization Program.