The Rhode Island Department Health (HEALTH) opened enrollment today for Immunize For Life, a new, consolidated state-supplied vaccine program. This program allows healthcare providers to enroll once to order vaccine for both pediatric and adult patients.
Pediatric healthcare providers can order all recommended vaccines for patients younger than 19 years of age. For a complete list of recommended childhood vaccines, visit: http://www.health.ri.gov/programs/immunization/childhood/2010RecommendedChildhoodImmunizationSchedule.pdf. Adult healthcare providers can order influenza, pneumococcal (Pneumovax), and tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis (Tdap) vaccines this year. For recommended adult immunizations, visit http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/adult-schedule.htm
“Vaccination is one of the safest and most effective ways to prevent disease among all Rhode Islanders,” said Director of Health David R. Gifford, MD, MPH. “HEALTH provides these vaccines to all enrolled providers at no cost to the provider or the patient. We urge all providers to participate in this important program.”
The enrollment process must be completed online. To enroll, healthcare providers should visit https://kidsnet.health.ri.gov/vaccine. HEALTH has prepared written guidance for healthcare providers interested in enrolling for Immunize for Life. Additionally, HEALTH’s Immunization Program will offer conference call training sessions to assist healthcare providers in the enrollment process. This guidance, training session call-in instructions, and a list of conference call dates and times are all available at: http://www.health.ri.gov/immunization/for/providers/