© 2006 American Public Health Association DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2005.078451
David B. Rein, Amanda A. Honeycutt, Lucia Rojas-Smith, and James C. Hersey are with the Health, Social Science, and Economic Research unit of RTI International, Atlanta, Ga. Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to David B. Rein, PhD, RTI International, 2951 Flowers Rd, Ste 119, Atlanta, GA 30341 (e-mail: drein{at}rti.org).
The Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Section 317 Grants Program is the main source of funding for state and jurisdictional immunization programs, yet no study has evaluated its direct impact on vaccination coverage rates. Therefore, we used a fixed-effects model and data collected from 56 US jurisdictions to estimate the impact of Section 317 financial assistance immunization grants on childhood vaccination coverage rates from 1997 to 2003. Our results showed that increases in Section 317 funding were significantly and meaningfully associated with higher rates of vaccination coverage; a $10 increase in per capita funding corresponded with a 1.6-percentage-point increase in vaccination coverage. Policymakers charged with funding public health programs should consider this studys findings, which indicate that money allocated to vaccine activities translates directly into higher vaccine coverage rates.
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