A recent study ranked Santa Clara County second nationwide in the rate of immunization for children under 3 years of age, the Santa Clara Valley Health and Hospital System reported.
Children under 3 are the population most vulnerable to preventable childhood diseases.
The Centers for Disease Control's National Immunization Survey reports that 85 percent of Santa Clara County's children under age 3 have completed their immunization series.
Boston ranked first in the nation, with 87 percent of its children under 3 fully immunized.
The public health department of the Santa Clara Valley Health & Hospital System conducted four programs to boost local immunization efforts:
* The "Give 'Em Five'' campaign, urging parents to immunize babies five times before their second birthdays;
* Baby Calls, sponsored by the county's Hospital Conference, are reminder calls made at 3, 5 and 7 months to all mothers of newborns to urge them to immunize their babies;
* Kids in Common saturation campaigns have been held in three high-need communities. The fourth is scheduled for May 18 in downtown San Jose;
* CHIPS, a partnership of public and private sectors countywide dedicated to reaching and sustaining 90 percent or better immunization rates in children under 2.
These efforts are part of a national campaign. April 21 to 27 is National Infant Immunization Week. May is Toddler Immunization Month.
The ongoing survey provides national, state and selected urban-area estimates of vaccination coverage levels among children aged 19 to 35 months.
For immunization information, call the Public Health Department at 299-6850.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, April 17, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.