Pritzker administration working to make vaccines more accessible in Illinois

Published: Jul. 3, 2019 at 4:29 PM CDT
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The Pritzker administration is working to make vaccines more easily available for low-income children in Illinois.

It's part of the administration's efforts to increase vaccination rates across the state.

On Wednesday, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services and the Illinois Department of Public Health announced vaccines will be available for children covered under the Children's Health Insurance Plan through the Vaccines For Children program.

Officials say ordering vaccines through the program will increase the number of providers for these services and help ensure vaccines are more readily available for low-income children.

"Illinois is committed to every child being vaccinated," IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said. "The U.S. is seeing the greatest number of measles cases since 1992 despite the fact that measles was declared eliminated in 2000. Vaccination is the safest and most effective way to help prevent measles cases and outbreaks and we are continuing to take aggressive action to ensure that all children continue to have access to vaccines."

The VFC program is a federally funded program that provides vaccines for children whose parents or guardians may not be able to afford them. Children who are eligible for the VFC program are younger than 19 years and are either Medicaid-eligible, uninsured, underinsured, or American Indian or Alaska Native.