WASHINGTON (AP) - It would be easier for some children to get free vaccines under the budget President Bush will present to Congress next month.

The plan also recommends building a stockpile of childhood vaccines to help get through periodic shortages.

Altogether, the administration will ask Congress for about $175 million for 2004, officials said Friday. The stockpile of vaccines will be built over four years, with a total estimated cost of $707 million.

``The president's proposal will expand access to preventive health care for some of our most vulnerable citizens, our children,'' Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said in a statement.

HHS has been releasing specific budget requests for the last week, highlighting increases in spending for a variety of health programs. Officials will not say, however, how much money various agencies will get overall, and it's possible that increases the administration is spotlighting will be offset by cuts to other programs.

The first piece of the vaccine initiative would make improvements to the Vaccine for Children program, which finances routine inoculations for 1.6 million of the 4 million children born each year.

The program covers four groups: children in Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor; American Indians and Alaskan natives; children without health insurance; and children who are underinsured, meaning their insurance plans do not cover vaccines.

Children in the first three groups may get their shots at state and local health departments, but under current law, kids in the final group - those who are underinsured - must go to a community health center. In many places, there is no community health center available, meaning the program does little to help them.

At the same time, states often can't afford to pick up the cost of more expensive vaccines for children who are not covered by the federal program or by private insurance.

The Bush budget would pay for underinsured children to get vaccines at regular health clinics, at a cost of $40 million for 2004.

The president also wants to restore two vaccines to the program that have been effectively eliminated. In 1993, the government set price caps on tetanus and diphtheria vaccines that are so low that no manufacturer will sell to the government, HHS officials said.

The budget plan would lift the caps and allow the Vaccine for Children program to buy an estimated 2.5 million doses in 2004, at a cost of $10 million.

The budget also requests new money to create the stockpile that could be tapped in times when childhood vaccines are in short supply.

The nation has experienced several shortages over the last couple of years, mainly because some manufacturers dropped out of the market while others slowed production to upgrade manufacturing plants. At one point, the government reported shortages in eight of 11 childhood vaccines.

HHS hopes to build a six-month supply of all recommended childhood vaccines by 2006. There are now 11 or 12 vaccines recommended for children, depending on the state, with most doses given in the first 18 months of life.

The stockpile should help fill short-term gaps, said Dr. Walt Orenstein, director of the National Immunization Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

``It doesn't cure the issue if a manufacturer leaves the market,'' he said. ``It will help if there are product disruptions.''

On the Net: CDC's National Immunization Program: http://www.cdc.gov/nip/

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