Question: Who can I report what I suspect is a scam? I received a voicemail from 312-871-4241, which said it was “calling on behalf of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We’re conducting a nationwide survey about childhood immunization. Would you please call us at 1-877-220-4805 to let us know whether or not there are any children between 12 months and 4 years old living or staying in the household? The number again is 1-877-220-4805. Thank you.” Why would the CDC call me for this survey? I’m very suspicious.
Answer: Rest assured that this was not a scam call. You’ve been contacted by the National Immunization Surveys, which are conducted by National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago for the CDC. The phone numbers you mention — notably the callback number — are associated with the NIS, a group of telephone surveys used to monitor vaccination coverage among children.
The CDC needs parents and guardians of eligible children to participate so that it can guide public health policy with accurate estimates of vaccination coverage. Most of the outgoing calls are randomly generated by computer, which means they may reach households without children, as well as unlisted phone numbers (as another reader asked about). Data is collected nationwide.
Participation is voluntary. Those who agree supply the name of their children’s vaccination provider and permission to contact the provider. The survey then collects information about the types, dates and dosages of vaccinations directly from the provider.
One unfortunate side effect of continuous scam calls is that people become suspicious of any call or voicemail from someone they don’t know. To counteract that, the CDC gives detailed information about these surveys on its website, including verifying which phone numbers a call may come from and — most importantly, since incoming numbers can be falsified or “spoofed” on your caller ID — the number that you should call back.
Initial contact may come from 312-871-4241 or 312-871-4242 (Caller ID CDC NATL IMMUN) or in a letter from Dr. Nancy Messonnier, Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, about the National Immunization Surveys, including the NIS-Child, NIS-Teen, or NIS-Child Influenza Module. The callback number for each is 1-877-220-4805.
Read more at 808ne.ws/nissurvey.
Mahalo
On April 20, I had scheduled a home inspection at a condo on McCully Street for my buyer clients. There was no guest parking at the building so I parked at Ala Wai Community Park, at the corner of Kapiolani Boulevard and McCully Street. The inspector did his inspection at 10 a.m. and I was to go in with the buyers at 11 a.m.
At 10:45 a.m., I started walking toward the exit from the park and as I approached I tripped and fell onto the concrete. I hit my head hard and was attempting to stand when I was surrounded by people at the park, none of whom I had noticed before. One brought me a chair, another handed me a clean white towel, another asked me what I was doing there and I told them. Somebody called the ambulance, another went up to the apartment and brought down the inspector. … I saw my clients appear as the ambulance arrived. The inspector saw them and told me not to worry, they would take care of everything, and the ambulance sped me away to Kaiser hospital. At the hospital, I received many stitches to my right temple and am now nearly recovered. I couldn’t express my gratitude to those people who gathered around me and took such great care of me. I don’t know who they were but they were lifesavers to me. I want to let them know just how grateful I am. — Barbara
Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
