Topeka ? Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and state health officials Tuesday touted an increase in the rate of Kansas children getting their immunizations, but the state still ranks near the bottom in the nation.

Since 2002, the state’s immunization rate has increased 12.3 percentage points, from 66.8 to 79.1 percent, officials said.

“In Kansas, we are taking our children’s health very seriously,” Sebelius said during a news conference where she was surrounded by babies and toddlers, and a Topeka band that has recorded a jingle “Get Me Immunized.”

State officials said the immunization numbers are improving because of the “Immunize and Win a Prize” campaign that runs through September and provides prizes to parents who get their children immunized.

But Roderick Bremby, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said the state still must improve.

“In that very critical period from zero to two, we have not been doing a very good job. We used to have a very robust program of reminders,” Bremby said.

Under a push from the administration of former Gov. Joan Finney, Kansas ranked among the national leaders in immunization rates, but then in the late 1990s that began to slide.

The standard measurement for vaccination coverage is how many children between 19 months and 35 months old have received a combined vaccination series called 4-3-1-3-3. This includes doses for diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, haemophilus influenza type B and hepatitis B.

In that category, the coverage rate in Kansas was 66.8 percent, according to a survey for 2002 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That tied the state with Louisiana for 45th in the nation.

For 2003, the CDC survey said Kansas’ rate had increased to 75.7 percent; seven states had lower rankings. The latest figures have Kansas at 79.1 percent, but a comparison with other states won’t be released until July.

“We are back on track now and we think we will go above where we have been before,” Bremby said.

During a pilot project of “Immunize and Win a Prize,” immunization rates increased as much as 55 percent in some areas, Bremby said. The campaign, which is now statewide, provides prizes to any Kansas child and his or her parents each time the child receives immunizations from birth to age 2.

The prizes include children’s Tylenol, a digital thermometer, a beanie bee and stickers.

Almost all Kansas children are “caught up” with their immunizations by the time they start kindergarten but officials say children need their immunizations on a timely basis to avoid illnesses.

“With vaccine-preventable disease even one case is too many,” said Dr. Howard Rodenberg, director of KDHE’s Division of Health.

The immunization campaign has been funded with approximately $530,000 in grant funds from the CDC and Kansas’ legal settlement with large tobacco companies.