Sharing living space and bathrooms in crowded, sometimes unsanitary shelters, homeless children have significant exposure to communicable diseases. Hepatitis A is a far greater risk for families in shelter than for other families. Chicken pox remains common in shelters. In addition to morbidity and lost time from school, communicable diseases may lead to temporary shelter closure and a shortage of housing for homeless families. Homeless children are at increased risk of falling behind in immunizations.
Homeless families are also more likely to have missing or incomplete immunization records.
Even families who have managed to obtain immunizations from various providers around the city may have partial vaccination records that no one has taken the time to compile. The Immunization Program, which originally targeted pre-school children, has now expanded to all children through age 18. Provides all recommended immunizations to children entering shelter Provides Hepatitis A Vaccine to children including those who are up to date with recommended vaccines Educates families about immunizations and the special risks of shelters Collects and compiles immunization records from all previous providers Enters all present and past immunizations into the KIDS registry, Philadelphia Department of Health's central database. OESS developed a policy requiring all homeless children to be as up to date as possible on immunizations, including all vaccines covered by VFC and Hepatitis A Vaccine. The large number of immunizations in 1998 was provided before full implementation of the OESS policy.