Vaccines for Children
The North Carolina Immunization Program (NCIP) works with a federal vaccine program, the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program. The VFC program is a federal initiative. It helps families of children who may lack access to vaccines. It provides free vaccines to doctors who serve them.
The VFC program:
- Provides federally purchased vaccine, for eligible children, at no charge to public and private providers.
- Automatically covers vaccines recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), established by resolution and approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- Saves parents and enrolled providers money for vaccine purchases; and
- Reduces or eliminates vaccine cost as a barrier to vaccination of eligible children.
Children through 18 years of age that meet at least one of the following criteria are eligible for VFC vaccine:
- Medicaid-enrolled - a child who is eligible or enrolled in the Medicaid program.
- Uninsured - a child who has no medical insurance coverage.
- American Indian or Alaska Native
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Underinsured - Vaccines are available at federally qualified health centers (FQHC), rural health clinics (RHC), local health departments (LHD) and through some private providers for the following:
- children who have commercial (private) health insurance, but the coverage does not include vaccines,
- children whose insurance covers only selected vaccines (VFC-eligible for non-covered vaccines only), or
- children whose insurance caps vaccine coverage at a certain amount - once that coverage amount is reached, these children are categorized as underinsured.
Funds for the VFC program are transferred every year from the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) to the CDC and awarded to the NCIP. About 90 percent of these funds are used for the purchase of childhood vaccines. The NCIP uses the remaining funds for program activities. These include provider enrollment, program evaluation, and vaccine accountability.
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