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The CDC’s MMWR released a report today on the latest vaccine coverage estimates for children born during the period of January 2006 to July 2008 – or ages 19 to 34 months.
The National Immunization Survey (NIS), using a combination of telephone surveys and follow up mail questionnaires, has produced estimates for all 50 states along with stats for selected urban areas and territories.
The good news is that less than 1% of the children in the country appear to have skipped vaccinations altogether.
The overall vaccination rate across the country runs about 90% for most routine childhood vaccinations, but there are some states and regions with uptakes running closer to 80%.
The link to this admittedly data-intensive MMWR report is below. I’ve followed that with excerpts from a CDC Press release which provides some of the highlights.
National, State, and Local Area Vaccination Coverage Among Children Aged 19--35 Months --- United States, 2009
Weekly
September 17, 2010 / 59(36);1171-1177
CDC Survey Finds Childhood Immunization Rates Remain High
Immunization of children aged 19-35 months old against most vaccine-preventable diseases remains high in the United States, with coverage for most of the routine vaccines remaining at or over 90 percent, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Less than 1 percent of young children got no vaccinations, the CDC report said.
"Nearly all parents are choosing to have their children protected against dangerous childhood diseases through vaccination," said Anne Schuchat, M.D., director of CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
Today's report suggests the national picture is reassuring. However, in 2008, there were outbreaks of measles primarily in children whose parents had declined to have their children vaccinated. It is likely that communities with high numbers of under vaccinated or unvaccinated children remain, said Dr. Schuchat.
"While it's encouraging to see immunization rates remaining high, we know that parents have questions about vaccines and we must continue to educate parents about the importance of vaccination to help avoid future resurgences in serious, preventable illnesses," Dr. Schuchat said.
The 2009 National Immunization Survey (NIS) of more than 17,000 households looked at vaccination of children born between January 2006 and July 2008 and found that vaccine coverage against poliovirus; measles, mumps and rubella; hepatitis B and varicella (chickenpox), remained relatively stable and near or above the national Healthy People 2010 goal of 90 percent or higher.
At the same time, rates of vaccination for hepatitis A and the birth dose of hepatitis B increased significantly, with the number of children aged 19-35 months who were immunized rising by more than six percentage and five percentage points respectively.
Other findings included:
- 44 percent of children aged 19-35 months had received rotavirus vaccine during infancy; these vaccines were first licensed in 2006.
- 83.6 percent of children aged 19-35 months had received three doses of Haemophilus influenzae B, down by 6.4 points from the previous year, reflecting a national shortage of the vaccine in 2008 and 2009. Vaccine is now readily available.
