Blue Review
A Provider Publication

September 2022

Help Your Patients Stay on Track With Childhood Immunizations

In August, as part of our Wellness Can’t Wait campaign, we recognized National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM) by highlighting facts about the importance of immunizations. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted routine well-child visits, resulting in many children falling behind on receiving recommended vaccines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a lower percentage of kindergartners received required vaccines for the 2020-2021 school year.1

National Awareness Month may be over, but the importance of staying on top of scheduled immunizations continues throughout the year. You play a vital role in educating parents about the importance of getting caught up with  scheduled immunizations and encouraging them to vaccinate children aged 0 to 2 years and adolescents aged 9 to 13 years.

To help children and adolescents catch up on all needed vaccines, the CDC recommends that providers:

  • Identify families whose children have missed vaccinations and contact them to schedule appointments
  • Check at each visit for any missing immunizations and deliver vaccines that are due
  • Let families know what precautions are in place for safe delivery of in-person services

We encourage you to refer to NIAM tools and resources on the CDC website for up-to-date year-round information on immunizations. Preventive care guidelines on immunization schedules are available on our Provider website.

BCBSIL Resources
BCBSIL promotes preventive health through Wellness Can’t Wait materials and resources for our members.

Thank you for helping the families in your care get caught up with vaccinations now so they are better prepared for the school year and months ahead.

1CDC, Childhood Vaccination Toolkit for Clinicians (May 6, 2022). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/childhood-vaccination-toolkit.html

The above material is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for the independent medical judgment of a physician. Physicians and other health care providers are encouraged to use their own best medical judgment based upon all available information and the condition of the patient in determining the best course of treatment.