David B. Rein ^1*, Amanda A. Honeycutt ¹, Lucia Rojas-Smith ¹, James C. Hersey ¹

¹ RTI International

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: drein{at}rti.org.

	Abstract

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 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 317 financial assistance immunization grants on childhood vaccination coverage rates from 1997 to 2003.

Our results showed that increases in 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 study's findings, which indicate that money allocated to vaccine activities translates directly into higher vaccine coverage rates.

Key Words: Government, Health Care Facilities/Services, Health Policy, Immunization/Vaccines, Prevention, Public Health Practice