The Florida Vaccines for Children Program

The Florida Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program is a public/private partnership. The program improves the health of Florida's children by encouraging comprehensive health care in a medical home. The Florida VFC Program facilitates timely and appropriate childhood immunizations. The VFC Program is federally financed and is administered in Florida by the Department of Health, Bureau of Immunization. The program began in 1994, and over $100 million worth of vaccines are distributed to private physicians, hospitals, and other public and private healthcare providers throughout Florida annually. We encourage all physicians who immunize children or adolescents to enroll in the VFC Program.

Who can participate in Florida’s VFC Program?

Any provider can join. Physicians do not have to be Medicaid providers to participate. However, Medicaid providers do need to enroll in the VFC Program to receive free vaccines.

With almost half of the children in the United States receiving their vaccinations from private healthcare providers, it is becoming more important than ever to increase the number of private healthcare providers participating in this program. To raise vaccination rates in the United States, the VFC Program needs the support of both public and private healthcare providers. This program helps meet the vaccination needs of children by following the recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Vaccines provided through the VFC Program protect against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, varicella, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type b, measles, mumps, rubella, pneumococcal disease, rotavirus, human papillomavirus, and influenza. As new vaccines or additional vaccine combinations are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and recommended by the ACIP, they are added to the program.

What are the participation guidelines?

Physician participation guidelines are simple. Providers continue to vaccinate eligible children following normal practice guidelines. Providers do not have to accept a child into the practice based solely on the child’s VFC eligibility.

Additional participation guidelines include:

• Screening and maintaining eligibility records for VFC-eligible children.
  • The parent or guardian is given a checklist that asks patient eligibility questions.
  • You are not required to verify the parent’s response.
  • If the child is eligible, you maintain an eligibility log.
• Providing vaccines free of charge to VFC-eligible children.
  • An administration fee may be charged. Service may not be denied because the patient is unable to remit the administration fee.
  • Florida’s VFC Program does cap provider administration fees (http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/vfc/fee-fedreg.htm#table).

What are the benefits of the program?

When you enroll in the program, you can offer all of your patients comprehensive care because you will be able to:

• Reduce vaccine cost as a barrier to vaccinating eligible children at the right time with the right vaccine.
• Provide patients with necessary vaccines, regardless of their parents’ financial status.
• Eliminate the need to refer children in your practice to public clinics for vaccinations and risk loss of continuity of care.
• Continue or maintain your present system of purchasing vaccines for private-paying patients. Participation in the VFC Program does not impact private vaccine purchase.