ADHS Making Major Policy Changes to the Vaccines for Children Program

Goal Is to Stop & Reverse Vaccination Network Atrophy

ADHS will be making changes to many of their Vaccines for Children policies! The policy changes are in response to provider, stakeholder, parent & AZPHA advocacy urging the department to change their Vaccines for Children policies, decisions, and leadership.

Arizona lost 50% of our VFC providers during the Ducey era – going from 1,200 to 600 participating providers, reducing access to vaccine, lowering childhood vaccination rates, & harming overall AHCCCS network capacity.

Arizona now only has 6 VFC providers per 10,000 Medicaid eligible kids. The national average is 24 providers per 10,000 Medicaid kids… meaning Arizona has just 25% of the number of VFC providers per Medicaid enrolled kid compared with the national average.

Are We Finally Turning the Corner on Arizona’s Decaying Childhood Vaccination Network?

A workgroup organized by ADHS has met a few times this year to identify critical control points that have been running providers off and to recommended strategies to improve participation in VFC.

New CDC Report: Arizona Has Among the Lowest Childhood Immunization Rates in the U.S.

By all accounts, the new leadership in the vaccine program and preparedness service line have been receptive to the committee’s recommendations. ADHS has scheduled a webinar on Tuesday, April 9th at 9:00 a.m. to announce & discuss the upcoming changes and “… share insights, outcomes, and additional collaborative efforts for the future”.

Zoom Meeting on Tuesday, 4/9/24 at 10 am

Meeting ID: 834 5545 582 Passcode: 576904

Note: ADHS will soon be accepting applications for a new leader for the Immunizations Bureau and a new Assistant Director for the Public Health Preparedness service line (immunizations reports through public health preparedness).

Those positions are not yet posted, but y’all should put on your thinking caps and encourage strong candidates to apply when the posts open.