A county pediatrician says the state’s decision to cut childhood immunizations from it’s budget is a huge mistake.

Beginning Dec. 1, the state will no longer pay for children to receive the mandatory immunizations required by public schools.

“I have no doubt it’s a big mistake and people will pay for it,” said Dr. Patrick Egbe of Choice Pediatrix in Rockingham. “It’s very frustrating because I know the benefits children get from these immunizations. It’s a big issue going forward.”

Parents with insurance for their children will now have to pay for these immunizations out of pocket, if not covered by their insurance company, and only children who are uninsured, underinsured, eligible for Medicaid, or Native American will continue to receive the immunizations at no cost.

The state requires school-aged children to be vaccinated before entering the public school system, which is why for years the state paid for the vaccines.

But 11 of the essential vaccines are being cut from the state’s budget including combination shots like one for the prevention of Hepatitis A and the second dose of Varicella, the chicken pox vaccine.

Many of the vaccines that will no longer be covered can cost around $100 or more each.

“It will certainly affect the way we do business,” Egbe said.

Egbe said the worst case scenario from the state’s decision is that pediatricians will stop administering vaccines because it’s going to be a “long, drawn out war with insurance companies regarding how much they’ll cover.”

Egbe said with this new plan, neither pediatricians or patients will benefit, because some parents could opt out of getting their child vaccinated because of the cost, and the medical practices will not make a profit.

“Between the administration cost and cost the of the vaccine, the insurance companies will haggle the Medicaid rate so people might opt out to just not give it,” Egbe said, referring to pediatricians and the tough choice they face.

“It’s very frustrating as a physician,” Egbe said. “I don’t even know what I’m going to do next, come December 1, because people routinely need vaccines, they’re not optional. We’ve seen the evidence that children really need these and I can’t comprehend what we’ll be dealing with without these vaccines. These vaccines protect the population and we’ll lose that.”

Egbe said a prime example of the result of not getting vaccinated can be seen in the rise of measles, meningitis and whooping cough cases over the last several years.

Even if insurance companies do decide to cover the cost of the vaccines, the consumer will still be paying more out of pocket in the form of higher premiums.

Dr. Tommy Jarrell with the Richmond County Health Department said the change is unfortunate but that the health department will continue to give immunizations.

“We give quite a few here,” Jarrell said. “Not as many as we used to because more parents are taking their children to pediatricians, but we do quite a few.”

Jarrell said it is concerning whether or not private practices will be able to continue to vaccinate children because they can’t absorb the loss.

“The only cost they had before was administrative,” Jarrell said. “Now the concern is, will private providers keep doing this and will this be a barrier to children getting these immunization. But most pediatricians are in the business of caring for children and will continue to provide for these kids, but maybe some other practices who don’t typically see a lot of children won’t.”

The state Department of Health and Human Services said this budget cut eliminates $4 million from the $18 million North Carolina Immunization Program. Pediatricians were notified of the change in an Oct. 30 memo from the department of health and human services.

n Staff writer Eren Tataragasi can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 19 or at etataragasi@yourdailyjournal.com.