State Funds Beef Up Immunization Effort

With roughly one-third of Ventura County’s 2-year-old children failing to receive proper immunizations, health-care providers are working together to protect children from disease.

A new state grant has added nearly $200,000 to the countywide immunization program. The funds will be spent targeting children most at risk of missing their shots.

The county Public Health Department already receives about $500,000 for the immunization effort. But on Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to accept a state Department of Health Services grant of $198,369 to pay for more vaccinations.

Under the program, the Ventura County Medical Center will team up with the Landon Pediatric Foundation, Mercy Healthcare Ventura County and Clinicas del Camino Real to find and immunize children who are vulnerable to disease.

“The strength of this project is that these four primary partners are major providers in Ventura County to low-income, monolingual non-English families,” Public Health Director Paul E. Lorenz reported to the board.

“Together with Public Health, they field 17 clinics serving low-income families,” Lorenz said.

Lorenz estimated that two-thirds of county youngsters now receive proper immunizations. The new goals call for increasing that proportion to 90%.