Childhood Vaccination Rates Remain High, CDC SaysLast Updated: September 06, 2012. But coverage for measles does not yet meet national standards in 15 states.
THURSDAY, Sept. 6 (HealthDay News
Childhood Vaccination Rates Remain High, CDC SaysLast Updated: September 06, 2012. But coverage for measles does not yet meet national standards in 15 states.
THURSDAY, Sept. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Almost all toddlers in the United States are getting their recommended childhood vaccinations, despite some parents' concerns about giving so many shots to the very young in such a short period of time.
A new government report shows immunization rates for many routine vaccines in 2011 were 90 percent or more among kids aged 19 months to 35 months.
The breakdown: Coverage for the birth dose of hepatitis B increased from 64.1 percent in 2010 to 68.6 percent in 2011, coverage for the recommended two doses of hepatitis A vaccine increased from 49.7 percent to 52.2 percent in the same period, coverage for rotavirus vaccines increased from 59.2 percent to 67.3 percent and coverage for the full series of Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine increased from 66.8 percent to 80.4 percent.
Vaccination coverage remained above the Healthy People 2020 target of 90 percent for measles, mumps and rubella (91.6 percent); poliovirus (93.9 percent); varicella (90.8 percent); and hepatitis B (91.1 percent), according to the 2011 National Immunization Survey, reported in the Sept. 6 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Healthy People is a government program that establishes 10-year national health objectives aimed at improving health for all Americans.
Vaccination coverage rates did not vary by race or ethnicity for the most part. White and black children living below the poverty level, however, had lower immunization rates than those living above the poverty level.
Less than 1 percent of toddlers had received no vaccines at all, the report found.
Although national vaccination coverage is at or near targeted levels for most vaccines, vaccination coverage did vary by state in 2011, with the largest variations seen in the birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine and for vaccinations of hepatitis A and rotavirus.
The report also noted that 15 states have measles im