In 2002 and 2003, Colorado held the distinction of being ranked 50th in the nation for childhood immunization rates for the 4:3:1:3:3 primary immunization series, a ranking that attracted much media and legislative attention over the past few years. A worrisome statistic to be sure, but what did this ranking actually represent?

While pediatricians, hospitals, public health departments, and children's advocacy organizations welcomed attention to immunization issues, a side effect was increasingly polarized rhetoric and politicization of the data. Some claimed that Colorado immunization rates signaled a looming public health crisis, whereas others maintained the rates were sufficient to protect the public's health. Conflicting interpretations of immunization data underscore the need to dive beneath the surface of aggregated statistics to more fully describe the issue so that policymakers, funders and program developers can determine whether intervention is necessary and craft appropriate and targeted strategies.

Project Description

The Caring for Colorado Foundation and The Colorado Trust commissioned the Colorado Health Institute to undertake an in-depth analysis of what immunization measures do and do not tell us about the state's childhood vaccination coverage. CHI completed its analysis in May 2005 and published its analysis in both a white paper (950 KB pdf) and policy brief (136 KB pdf).

Also see:
News release (82 KB)
Key Findings (80 KB)
Q & A (94 KB).