Vaccine safety issues have been addressed by several IOM reports, including Research Strategies for Assessing Adverse Events Associated with Vaccines: A Workshop Summary (IOM, 1994a), Adverse Events Associated with Childhood Vaccines: Evidence Bearing on Causality (IOM, 1993), and Adverse Effects of Pertussis and Rubella Vaccines (IOM, 1991).

In addition, vaccine safety reporting systems (e.g., the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System), add another dimension to the role of surveillance.

The survey was conducted by a team that included Gary Freed, MD, MPH, principal investigator; Sarah Clark, MPH; and Anne Cowan, MPH, all in the Division of General Pediatrics at the University of Michigan. See Appendix D for a brief overview.

See Appendix E for a detailed description of the case study selection and preparation methods.

Site visits were conducted within four of the case study states: Detroit, Michigan; Newark, New Jersey; Houston, Texas; and Los Angeles and San Diego, California.

As noted, one case study involved a two-county comparison in California. County-level data were included in California’s statewide grant proposal.

These meetings included a CDC meeting with national partners in March 1999 (Atlanta), a CDC meeting with state immunization directors in April 1999 (Atlanta), and the National Immunization Conference in June 1999 (Dallas). In addition, the following state and local health officers presented testimony at meetings of the IOM committee: David Johnson, Deputy Director and Chief Medical Executive, Michigan Department of Community Health, Lansing; Donald Williamson, State Health Officer, Alabama Department of Public Health, Montgomery; Christine Grant, Acting Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Health and Social Services, Trenton; Steven Friedman, Assistant Commissioner, New York City Health Department; Eleni Sfakianaki, Medical Executive Director, Dade County Health Department, Miami, Florida; Akiko Kimura, Medical Director, Immunization Program, Los Angeles, California; Babatunde A.Jinadu, Kern County Health Department, Bakersfield, California; Edd Rhoades, Chief, Maternal and Child Health Service, Oklahoma State Department of Health, Oklahoma City; and Natalie Smith, Chief, Immunization Branch, California State Health Department, Berkeley.