Coverage for most routine vaccines at or close to Healthy People 2010 goal of 90 percent
FRIDAY, Sept. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Routine vaccination of children between 19 and 35 months of age remains high in the United States, with coverage for most routine vaccines at or near the national objective of 90 percent, according to a report published in the Sept. 17 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The report outlined the 2009 National Immunization Survey coverage estimates for children born between January 2006 and July 2008 and focused on the more recently recommended vaccines for children aged 19 to 35 months. The report revealed that vaccination coverage increased for hepatitis B (HepB) birth dose -- from 55.3 percent in 2008 to 60.8 percent in 2009 -- and for hepatitis A -- from 40.4 percent in 2008 to 46.6 percent in 2009. However, coverage for pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (≥4 doses) remained stable at 80.4 percent.
Full coverage for rotavirus vaccine was 43.9 percent among children who were born within two years of licensure. Although coverage for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and HepB vaccines declined slightly in 2009, coverage for poliovirus (92.8 percent), MMR (90.0 percent), HepB (92.4 percent), and varicella (89.6 percent) vaccines continued to be at or near the national Healthy People 2010 target of 90 percent or higher. Fewer than 1 percent of children had not received any vaccinations.
"Parents and primary-care providers continued to ensure that children were vaccinated, in spite of interim recommendations to suspend the booster dose of Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine because of a national shortage, and heightened public awareness of controversies in vaccine safety," the authors write.
Full Text