THE DEMAND FOR CHILDHOOD IMMUNIZATIONS - RESULTS FROM THE BALTIMORE IMMUNIZATION STUDY

In spite of the net social benefits of childhood vaccines, a substanti al proportion of American children do not receive their full complemen t of immunizations by their second birthday. Designing policies and pr ograms that increase the rate of completed immunizations in preschool children requires an understanding of the factors which contribute to the timely receipt of immunizations. In this paper, we estimate a mode l of demand for immunizations for preschool children. Our results sugg est that household resources, the child's usual source of care, and ot her ''convenience factors'' significantly influence the successful com pletion of the immunization schedule.