1. Information and outreach systems should be improved so that high levels of immunization in preschool children will be reached in the United States. Because of a vastly improved ability to set up systems and to transfer data, a modern information system should function far better than the previous Infant Immunization Surveillance Program of about 20 years ago, which had no outreach element at all.
2. No matter how care is delivered, and several configurations of public vs private sector were discussed, responsibility should be placed on an individual or an agency to ensure that each child needing immunization and other preventive health services is identified and contacted. The information system should be keyed to the birth certificate. Reminders—mailed, phoned or, better still, delivered in person—should be provided for all children.
3. In both the public sector and the private sector, vaccines should be provided free of charge. (Methods of financing were not addressed directly, but most participants believed that the federal government would take financial responsibility.)
4. Health care providers should be taught the importance of assessing immunization status and administering needed immunizations at every appropriate contact with a child.
5. Immunization should be provided not as a solitary service, but as a part of a package of comprehensive preventive services.
6. A comprehensive school health education program should be established.
7. Consideration should be given to the use of incentives, either positive or negative, to improve the priority assigned to immunization and other preventive health care services.
Knowledge and Beliefs About Health Promotion and Preventive Health Care Among Somali Women in the United States
