title: Federal policy for pneumococcal immunization and its implementation in the Medicare program.
abstract: The Congress has authorized the Medicare program to pay for the cost of pneumococcal vaccine and its administration. The history of this legislation demonstrates that chance and political considerations quite separate from the scientific issues on vaccination played an important role in the development of this policy. It demonstrates both the need for and the difficulty of achieving more effective coordination of the activities related to national policies on vaccines and immunization.
mesh_terms: D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D006278:Medicare; D011018:Pneumonia, Pneumococcal / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013296:Streptococcus pneumoniae / Q000276:immunology; D014481:United States; D014611:Vaccination
chemical_list: D001428:Bacterial Vaccines