Friday, February 11, 2005
By Ann Pierceall
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
KAHOKA, Mo. — A grant for more than $200,000 will help the Clark County Health Department and Home Health Agency vaccinate hundreds of children against pneumonia, hepatitis A and influenza.
The three-year grant will support a County Health Department project called “Childhood Immunization Program Enhancement.”
Health Department administrator Janet Ramsey said travel distance and costs often stop people from getting all recommended vaccines. The three vaccines are not covered under the state’s Vaccines for Children program, which provides free childhood immunizations for polio, mumps, chicken pox and tetanus.

Ramsey said Prevnar, the pneumonia vaccine, costs $90 a dose. Four doses, spaced apart by two months, are required for a complete regimen.
“If you have two children and have to have four doses, there’s no way a parent can afford that,” she said. “This was the concern. These vaccines are so important to all of our children, so we thought we’d give it a try to see if we could come up with funding.”
Ramsey said because of the costs, “it’s just almost prohibitive for the state to provide this.”
The $213,339 grant from the Missouri Foundation for Health will start funding the project March 1. It also will cover the cost to the department for its nurses and staff, Ramsey said.
“Education is part of this, too, to let parents know the importance of vaccines and the (need for) keeping them on schedule,” she said.
All three illnesses are contagious. Since so many children are in day care, Ramsey says vaccinating against these illnesses is important.
Susan Thompson, a nurse for the Clark County R-1 School District, wrote one of the letters of support for the grant.
“We have quite a few kids with chronic illnesses, and with that they would need the influenza vaccine just to help them with their compromised immune systems,” she said.
Thompson also noted that more children are getting pneumonia, and that hepatitis A is an ongoing educational issue.
Ramsey said about 250 children a year will receive the vaccines under proposed eligibility requirements.
The Health Department continue to offer free vaccinations in the Vaccines for Children program. For more information, contact the Clark County Health Department at (660) 727-2356. Immunizations are available from 8 a.m. to 3: 30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Contact Staff Writer Ann Pierceall at apierceall@whig.comor (573) 221-5879