Tracking the Vaccinations

In this editorial, Bob Caylor argues the benefits of the US state of Indiana's online vaccine
tracking system, the Children and Hoosiers Immunization Registry Program. Many
children move frequently, he points out, and without a centralised system
parents can lose track of these records. Accurate records of childhood
vaccinations will, according to Caylor, both prevent unvaccinated children from entering school and
prevent waste of vaccines on children who have already been immunised.



This article points out that many children are not vaccinated, either because their families are
uninsured or because their parents choose to "freeload" off the protection offered by the the
immunisation of the majority of the population.



Caylor argues that it makes more sense to concentrate on making vaccinations easily available, than
to spend time resenting the freeloaders. To this end, he recommends the state's vaccine tracking system as
a "valuable tool", which has so far been adopted by only 10% of doctors.