Nationally, vaccination rates for both toddlers and kindergartners appear to be high and steady in recent years, at above 90 percent, according to two CDC reports released Thursday.
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The CDC reports in its latest study, that among the 49 reporting states and the District of Columbia (DC), the median vaccination coverage rate was 94% for the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, and approximately 94% for local requirements for the diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine.
Anne Schuchat, M.D., director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, called the findings “gratifying” and attributed them to collaborations among government, doctors, parents and community groups. There was an increase of 18 state providing data on line.
She said the CDC applauds states for making exemption information routinely available.
The percentage of children who don’t receive vaccinations remains low, at less than 1 percent. Only Mississippi and West Virginia do not allow a religious exemption.
A measles outbreak earlier this year traced to California’s Disneyland theme park infected more than 130 people, sending one in five to the hospital.
That’s down 1.1 percent from the previous school year, when Maine had the fourth highest rate of parents rejecting vaccines.
“I think locally, we tend to do very well”, says Dr. Linda Fu, a pediatrician with the Children’s National Health System. For instance, California has generally high vaccination rates but several communities where parents selectively immunize their kids.
Last year, an Ohio measles outbreak in the Amish community infected 374 people and sent 10 to the hospital. “The law does not allow parents/guardians to claim an exemption because the shot record is lost or incomplete, or because it is too much trouble to contact the physician or clinic and obtain a copy”, the state says on its website.
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The national rates were calculated using data from 4 million children entering kindergarten in 2014. “… Objections to the HPV vaccine reported by survey participants include the fear that giving the vaccine will encourage sexual activity, and the conviction that the child is too young for sexual activity and therefore does not need the HPV vaccine”. ANA’s re-examination of its position was prompted partly by outbreaks of 2015 measles cases that affected unvaccinated adults and children. Schuchat said. “So, I urge parents to give their children the best protection for vaccine-preventable diseases, by talking with their clinicians to see if any vaccines are needed for their child”.
