Vaccines For Children Program

Since its inception in 1994, Texas has participated in the Federal Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program. Our version is called the Texas Vaccines for Children Program, or TVFC. The Program was initiated by the passage of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993. This legislation guaranteed that vaccines would be available at no cost to providers, in order to immunize children who meet the eligibility requirements.

Today, there are more than 6000 Texas providers enrolled. Texas leads the nation in the number of uninsured and underinsured children. We also have over 2.5 million children on Medicaid (Federal Fiscal Year 2004 data). Many of these children are not receiving the complete series of immunizations required to protect them from vaccine-preventable diseases. Under the TVFC Program, the following groups of children should be receiving their vaccines for free:

• uninsured or underinsured children
• children who are covered by CHIP
• children who are of Native American or Native Alaskan heritage
• children on Medicaid.

Families who are currently paying for vaccinations may be TVFC eligible. Vaccines are supplied to the provider at no cost. A TVFC provider may not charge for the vaccine itself, but is permitted to charge a reasonable administration fee.

TVFC automatically covers all vaccines recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

A fully immunized society is necessary to reach optimum eradication of vaccine-preventable infectious disease. With the help of TVFC providers, we can reach these goals leading to a healthier Texas.



Reference: Texas Department of Health Services, TVFC