Effect of reminder notices on the timeliness of early childhood immunizations.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether reminder notices would improve the timeliness of toddler-age vaccinations. DESIGN: Prospective- randomized- controlled trial. POPULATION STUDIED: Two convenience cohorts of 320 children due to receive either measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine (at 12 months of age) or diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT)-inactivated polio (IPV)- Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) booster vaccine (at 18 months of age). SETTING: Suburban community. INTERVENTIONS: Parents of the identified children were randomly assigned either to a group to receive a reminder notice of pending vaccinations or a control group that did not receive a notice at a ratio of 1:1. Immunization uptake was assessed eights weeks after the initial due date for vaccination. RESULTS: Information was obtained for 224 children in the MMR group and 227 children in the DPT-IPV-Hib booster group. MMR uptake within eight weeks of the due date was about 90% in both the test and control groups- probably because of publicity surrounding