Colorado, which often falls below average in national surveys of childhood immunization rates, now ranks as the state with the 14th-best record, according to a study released Friday.
But one of the study’s authors says the standing could be threatened by a looming fight over funding for the statewide vaccination tracking system that he credits with the improvement.
In 2015, more than three-quarters of kids ages 19 to 35 months in Colorado had received the recommended vaccinations for diseases like measles, polio, hepatitis-B and others. That represents a steady increase from four years prior, when just over 60 percent of kids that age were up-to-date on their vaccinations but the state ranked only 36th in the nation.
Dr. Edwin Asturias, the associate director of the Center for Global Health at the Colorado School of Public Health and one of the study’s authors, said the state’s current rate also represents a major leap ahead from the 1990s, when often only about half of kids received those vaccinations and the state ranked near the bottom in the country.
“I think it is an improvement in Colorado,” he said.
Part of the growth in vaccination rates, Asturias said, is a result of the Affordable Care Act and efforts to increase vaccination rates in rural or medically underserved areas. The report, released by Children’s Hospital Colorado and the Colorado Children’s Immunization Coalition, found there are 17 counties in the state where less than 50 percent of kids are up-to-date on vaccines. Those counties are distributed across the state, and Asturias said some major pockets of low vaccination rates are now the result of parents opting their kids out from the vaccines.
But Asturias said perhaps the biggest reason for the growth in vaccination rates has been the Colorado Immunization Information System. The system is meant to help doctors and parents track scheduled vaccinations — both to make sure that kids get vaccinations when needed and but also to make sure they are not over-vaccinated. Previously, vaccinations were tracked by paper records.
“It provides tremendous benefit,” Asturias said.
But it is also controversial. Critics say the system intrudes of parent choice and patient privacy. At a meeting this month of the state legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, which every year writes the state’s spending plan, Sen. Kevin Lundberg said, “The tracking system has gotten way out of control and I, frankly, seriously question whether they are within legal bounds right now.”
“The department needs to know that my intention is to not provide any funding for that program,” Lundberg, R-Berthoud, said.
The system costs about $3.3 million a year, for both staff and operating costs. The Joint Budget Committee has pushed back its decision on funding the system for next year, and state Rep. Millie Hamner, another budget committee member, said at this month’s meeting that she intends to fight to keep funding for the system in place.
“I do think these are important services to fund,” Hamner, D-Dillon, said.
