FRIDAY, Sept. 5 (HealthDay News) -- Over 77 percent of young children in the United States are fully vaccinated according to the recommended series of vaccines, and all but one of the individual vaccines have at least 90 percent coverage, according to a report published in the Sept. 5 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
N. Darling, of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and
Respiratory Diseases in Atlanta, and colleagues analyzed immunization coverage estimates data from the National Immunization Survey, to assess the extent of coverage among children aged 19 months to 35 months.
Coverage has remained high, with 77.4 percent of children completely covered in 2007 compared with the 2006 figure of 76.9 percent, the researchers report. Only one vaccination -- the fourth dose of the DTaP vaccine -- had less than 90 percent coverage, at 84.5 percent. Although there was substantial variability across states and local areas, coverage was similar across all racial/ethnic groups, the report notes.
"However, for some vaccines, coverage remained lower among children living below the poverty level," the authors write. "Maintaining high vaccination coverage and continued attention to reducing current poverty disparities is needed to limit the spread of preventable diseases and ensure that children are protected."
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