State's free vaccine program faces cuts

Eight month old Serena is getting her routine childhood vaccines. They protect her against diseases her parents have likely never seen.

But pediatrician Mark Greenfield remembers when there was no vaccine against a bacteria, called HIB for short.

"We were doing lots of spinal taps on kids in the office, diagnosing meningitis in the office, sending kids to children's hospital, and it was a dangerous, dangerous disease. We had kids die from it," said Dr. Mark Greenfield, Seahurst Pediatrics.

Washington is one of a handful of states that provides vaccines free for all kids. Clinics like Seahurst Pediatrics go through a lot each month.

"Eighty-four-thousand-dollars worth of vaccine in September. We didn't pay for it. The state paid for it," said Dr. Greenfield.

Because of budget cuts that would all change in May. Federal funds would still cover low income children. But families with health insurance would need to check their policies to see if they are covered.

"A concern I would have would be that families who haven't met their deductible yet, would end up having to pay for the vaccines," said Dr. Greenfield.

Dr. Beth Harvey is president of the Washington chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She worried some clinics simply couldn't afford to keep vaccines in supply.

"It could be in a big city, it could be in a small rural area of the state, but there would be patchy areas of the state, where it would be hard for children to find providers to give them vaccines," said Dr. Harvey.

So she and state legislators reached out to every health insurer in Washington state. The result, the insurers have agreed to pool funds to keep the program intact.

"We feel all children in the state will continue to have access to vaccines, and give them that lifesaving protection that we think every child deserves," said Dr. Harvey.

The program will cover all childhood immunizations. Clinics can still charge a small fee for administering a vaccine.

When the governor signs the new legislation for the fund, the HPV vaccine against cervical cancer will be added again. That vaccine had been dropped from the program last summer.