Immunization outreach in an inner-city housing development: reminder-recall on foot.

OBJECTIVE: To determine rates of immunization coverage among children 3 to 72 months of age in a large public housing development- to develop a community-based outreach program to increase coverage- and to evaluate the effect of the program. DESIGN: A door-to-door canvass of the development by specially trained emergency medical technicians to enroll families- to determine immunization status from written records- and to follow-up to encourage immunizations and well-child care. The program was evaluated- comparing rates of immunization by age with an expectation based on the immunization histories before enrollment. SETTING: A Chicago public housing development- October 1993 through December 1996. OUTCOME VARIABLES: Antigen-specific and series-specific coverage based on written records. RESULTS: Of the caregivers- 92% were able to identify a primary care provider. At the time of enrollment- 37% of 1075 children were up-to-date- but that proportion varied by age with 27% of children 19 to 35 months of age bein