Texans Speak

Background:
Texas is a huge and diverse state with many challenges to achieving and sustaining high immunization rates. A series of stakeholder listening sessions were held across the state to determine the major areas of concern for immunization policy reform.

Setting:
Eight communities around Texas, and a web-based survey with 143 respondents.

Population:
Listening sessions and a survey that reached a combined audience of approximately 300 stakeholders followed by a summit with 150 participants.

Project Description:
The purpose of these stakeholder listening sessions was to understand the challenges facing providers, public health workers and other stakeholders that impact immunization rates. The meetings were held in a town hall format with open ended questions and encouraged participants to talk about issues they face that impact immunizations. A web-based survey was also administered and additional information was gathered about the challenges facing providers the areas for improvements. The information that was gathered formed the content for the 2008 Texas Immunization Summit held in November 2008, and also helped to organize a powerful immunization coalition in preparation for making immunization policy reform. The results were summarized, published and distributed at the summit.

Results/Lessons Learned:
The stakeholder meetings, survey and summit helped to galvanize partnerships and built a strong immunization coalition that influences public policies about immunizations in Texas and at the Federal level. Both the survey and the listening sessions demonstrated that there is strong consensus about the issues facing stakeholders: (1) immunization information system improvements, including the need for a lifespan registry and the need for greater access to more types of data in a registry; (2) the threats posed to providers due to vaccine financing and reimbursements; and (3) the impact of the recent media attention to misinformation about vaccine safety.