Interventions over 2 years to increase influenza vaccination of children aged 6–23 months in inner-city family health centers

The purposes of this study were to test the ability of tailored interventions to raise influenza immunization rates and assess the effect on timely receipt of other vaccines. We conducted a before/after trial over 2 years to increase influenza vaccination rates of patients 6–23 months old in five inner-city family health centers serving low-income children with a sixth site as a concurrent control. Influenza vaccination rates improved significantly from a baseline of 4.7–24.7% in the first year and 36.6% in the second year, P < 0.001. The increase in rates was greater in intervention sites than the control site (31.9% versus 25.7%, P = 0.02). In regression analyses of influenza vaccination, intervention year was associated with an odds ratio (OR) of 9.4 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 4.4–20.0) for the first intervention year and OR = 13.4 (95% CI = 6.5–28.0) for the second intervention year. Children vaccinated against influenza were more likely to have received DTaP 3 and MMR within 2 months of the recommended age than children not vaccinated against influenza (P < 0.001).