Suzanne Allison: New Hampshire Vaccine Association helps community, kids

To The Daily Sun,

The New Hampshire Vaccine Association is an efficient, cost saving purchase process that provides vaccines to all Granite State children at no cost to the family or the health care provider. The NHVA effectively assesses insurer fees and, combined with federal Vaccine for Children funds, makes it possible to purchase all recommended childhood vaccines at a reduced rate for NH health care providers who immunize children.

Soon, the New Hampshire House will vote on HB 524, a bill that would eliminate this successful program. Please urge our elected officials to oppose this bill.

First, it is not what Granite Staters want. In-person and online testimony overwhelmingly opposed HB 524. Second, the people most trusted for medical information — primary care providers, nurses, public health centers, and the NH Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics — all oppose this bill. And third, it is bad for families. We know private insurers only reimburse providers at a fraction of the cost of vaccines, which includes purchase, storage and handling, counseling, administration, and documentation of vaccines, so a child’s health care provider may only carry the least expensive vaccines — or none at all.

If New Hampshire loses the NHVA, providers who can't afford to pay up front for all of the childhood vaccines for privately insured patients will have to turn away families. Pharmacy vaccinations are not an option because they don't vaccinate babies and young children. NH has historically maintained high childhood vaccine coverage rates, and it is, in part, because NH is a “universal vaccine purchase state.”

There is no reason to dismantle a successful system of preventative health care. There is no vaccine “mandate,” just an efficient way of delivering vaccines to those who choose it. Urge your representatives to follow public and professional opinion by opposing HB524.

Suzanne Allison

Center Barnstead