Rise in vaccine costs "put children at risk"

The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a warning that "soaring costs" of vaccines and lower reimbursement levels from insurers will cause the "under-immunization" of the USA's children.

Jay Berkelhamer, the AAP's president, said that "the system for delivering vaccines is broken and we're going to be in real trouble if it's not fixed soon."

The 60,000-member group argues that pediatricians face delays in receiving payments from both Medicaid and private heath plans, leaving them out-of-pocket by thousands of dollars for several months at a time. To make matters worse, payments often do not cover the products' cost. Gardasil, US drug major Merck & Co's cervical cancer vaccine, costs $360 per treatment course and the same firm's Rotateq vaccine against rotavirus costs $190. Some pediatricians are therefore refusing to stock the newest vaccines, according to the AAP. Jon Almquist, the group's immunization task force chairman, said: "we shouldn't be expected to subsidize the public health system and perform our jobs at a loss."