Immunization Screening and Referral in WIC

Immunizing children against certain diseases is one important way to help them stay healthy. WIC’s mission is to be a partner with other services that are key to childhood and family well-being, such as immunization. As an adjunct to services that provide immunizations, the WIC Program’s role is to find out about a child’s need for immunizations and share that information with parents, including where to get a child immunized.

Because immunization rates of low-income children continue to lag behind those of more affluent children, a White House Executive Memorandum was issued in December 2000 directing WIC to screen the immunization records of all infants and children under the age of two at WIC certification visits. Parents are encouraged to bring their infant/child’s immunization record to WIC appointments so that WIC staff can review the record as part of the WIC certification process. WIC provides a referral to immunization services, ideally to the child’s usual source of medical care.

Immunization records and/or an infant/child’s immunization status are in no way tied to the receipt of WIC benefits.

For information on WIC’s role in immunization promotion, contact your State WIC agency.

Visit the American Academy of Pediatrics website on their
Childhood Immunization Support Program at
http://www.cispimmunize.org/ ,to see the latest immunization recommendations and schedule.

For information regarding childhood immunizations, call the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at:

The CDC immunization hotline at
1-800-232-2522 (English)
1-800-232-0233 (Spanish)

Or visit CDC’s Vaccines and Immunizations website at
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/

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