Rochester Leads Nation in Reducing Inequality in Vaccination Rates
An innovative community partnership
run by the University of Rochester
Medical Center and the Monroe County
Department of Public Health has
essentially erased racial disparities in key
immunization rates in Rochester.
In 2002, Rochester was chosen by
the Centers for Disease Control as one
of five national sites for the Racial and
Ethnic Adult Disparities in Immunization
Initiative (READII), a multiyear
pilot project aimed at developing strategies
that could be used by other regions
to successfully reduce disparity rates for
flu and pneumonia vaccines. Rochester
READII combined a series of outreach
efforts based out of neighborhood health
clinics and community organizations to
target African-American seniors.
The program's coordinated approach
has had a significant impact. In 2000,
influenza and pneumococcal vaccination
rates for African-American seniors were
approximately 40 percent. Five years later,
African-American vaccination rates in
Rochester were 70 percent and higher-
comparable to those of white seniors-and
are now among the highest in the nation.