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State steering committee backs $8.77 million CARES investment to restore childhood vaccinations
Summary
A CARES-steering-committee-funded program will reimburse primary-care practices for outreach and other non-reimbursable investments to catch up missed childhood immunizations; DHS and pediatric leaders urged providers to apply before an Oct. 1 deadline tied to school immunization requirements.
The Arkansas chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics told lawmakers that childhood vaccine administrations fell sharply during the early months of the pandemic and that a CARES-steering-committee-approved program will fund outreach and practice investments to restore immunization visits.
Anna Strong, executive director of the Arkansas chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told the joint committee that well-child visits and vaccine administrations dropped roughly 30% in April–May 2020 compared with the prior year and that MMR doses dropped by about 42% during the same period. She said DHS data suggested a gap of roughly 60,000 immunization administrations in 2020, two‑thirds of which involved low‑income children.
To address that shortfall, the CARES steering committee approved $8,770,000 for primary-care-focused activities such as care coordination, outreach, immunization fairs with schools, and investments in office safety and technology. Elizabeth Pittman of DHS said the program is intended to help providers reach the October 1 school immunization deadline and to make use of CARES funding before year-end reallocation rules take effect.
Pittman said the program targets practices enrolled in the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program; many pharmacies historically are not VFC-enrolled, so pharmacies will not automatically benefit unless they have VFC enrollment. Strong and DHS officials urged practices to apply and to use the funds to make their offices safer and to help families get caught up on required vaccines.
The program reimburses qualifying non-billable activities rather than paying for vaccine doses themselves, which are billed through Medicaid or other payers. Officials said they will work to increase VFC enrollment among primary-care providers in underserved counties and to publicize the application process to providers statewide.
The committee heard questions about geographic access, pharmacy roles and why Oct. 1 was selected; DHS said Oct. 1 aligns with the public‑school immunization deadline and provides a practical window to distribute funds before CARES year-end accounting.
