Vaccines For Children (VFC)
The Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program helps families by providing vaccines at no cost to providers who serve eligible children from birth through 18 years of age. The VFC Program has earned high marks from California doctors for making it easy to provide high-quality care to their patients.
The VFC Program is administered at the national level by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. The program was established by an act of Congress in 1993.
The California VFC Program is administered by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Immunization Branch and has enrolled more than 4,000 public and private provider sites since its inception in 1995.
Eligibility
The VFC Program is an entitlement program. Children must meet federal VFC eligibility criteria to receive public vaccines to ensure vaccines are going to the intended populations.
Children from birth through 18 years of age must meet at least one of these criteria at each immunization visit to be eligible to receive VFC-supplied vaccines:
Criterion | Description |
Medicaid eligible (or enrolled) | Has Medi-Cal or California’s Child Health and Disability Prevention (CHDP) as primary or secondary coverage |
American Indian (AI) or Alaskan Native (AN) | As defined by the Indian Health Care Improvement Act |
Uninsured | No health insurance coverage |
Underinsured | Health insurance doesn’t cover vaccines, doesn’t cover all ACIP-recommended vaccines, or covers vaccines but with a fixed dollar limit (or cap); underinsured patients are only eligible to receive VFC vaccines at FQHC or RHC facilities. |