Immunizations for Early Teens
2023-24 Edition
Why is it important for teens to be vaccinated?
Vaccines, also called shots or immunizations, are one of the safest and most effective ways to protect your young teen from getting or spreading potentially serious diseases. Even though shots have many benefits, not all young teens receive the shots they need. Some shots are required for entry into middle schools or junior high schools in California.
How should doctors help prevent illness during early teenage years?
Highly rated health plans and their doctors send reminders when your young teen needs a vaccination. This makes it easier for you to be sure that your teen, by age 13, has had all of the recommended vaccinations.
What do the stars mean?
The scores show how well each health plan did at making sure teens in the health plan received (1) a meningococcal vaccine; (2) a vaccine for tetanus, diphtheria (an upper respiratory infection), and pertussis (whooping cough); and (3) the complete vaccine series for human papillomavirus (HPV) by age 13. A higher score means more teen children got the right care at the right time.
The scores are based on information from at least 30 health plan member administrative records in 2022. Some plans also use patient medical records, which are often more complete and result in higher scores. Plans that decide not to use medical records are likely to have lower scores.
Data Disclaimer
The data source for data for the Report Cards is Quality Compass® 2023 and is used with the permission of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). Quality Compass® 2023 includes Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) and Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) data. Any data display, analysis, interpretation, or conclusion based on these data is solely that of the authors. NCQA specifically disclaims responsibility for any such display, analysis, interpretation, or conclusion. Quality Compass and HEDIS are registered trademarks of NCQA. CAHPS® is a registered trademark of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
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