The record high level of influenza vaccination achieved during the 2009-2010 influenza season was sustained during the latest influenza season, but "opportunity exists to improve coverage in all age groups, particularly among adults," according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As of the end of February, almost 43% of people aged 6 months and older in 43 states and the District of Columbia had received the influenza vaccine during the 2010-2011 influenza season, compared with about 41% of people in this age group during the 2009-2010 season. The report – which estimated vaccine coverage for the 2010-2011 season based on influenza vaccine coverage rates in 43 states and D.C. using national surveillance data – appeared in the June 10 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR Morb. Mortal. Wkly. Rep. 2011;60: 737-43).
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The number of people aged 6 months and older in 43 states and Washington, D.C., who received the influenza vaccine during the 2010-2011 season increased a modest 3%, compared with last season’s figures.
The 2010-2011 season is the first season that the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended influenza vaccination for all people aged 6 months and older. This season also followed the season that was marked by the influenza A pandemic (H1N1).
The report estimates that from August 2010 through February 2011, almost half (49%) of children and adolescents aged 6 months through 17 years had been vaccinated, compared with 42% during the previous season.
Among adults, coverage was 30% among adults aged 18-49 years, similar to the previous season. For those aged 50-64 years, coverage was almost 46%, which was similar to the previous season (about 45%). Among those aged 65 years and older, almost 69% were vaccinated in this season and in the 2009-2010 season.
Overall, vaccine coverage during 2010-2011 was highest among non-Hispanic whites (44%), compared with 38.8% among non-Hispanic blacks and 40.6% among Hispanics. Among people of other races/ethnicity ("non-Hispanic others") coverage was almost 43%.
Among adults, coverage was also highest among non-Hispanic whites, at 43.3%, compared with 39% among the non-Hispanic others, 34.9% among non-Hispanic blacks, and 32.4% of Hispanics. Coverage increased by 3.6% compared with the previous year for the non-Hispanic blacks, but was similar among the other groups.
The proportion of children aged 6 months through 17 years who had been vaccinated was highest for Hispanics, at 55%, followed by 53.6% among non-Hispanic others, 47.9% among non-Hispanic blacks, and 46.3% among non-Hispanic whites. Compared with the 2009-2010 season, coverage increased by almost 4% among whites, and by 11%-12% among the non-Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic black children, but was about the same among non-Hispanic others.
Possible reasons behind the "moderate" increase in vaccination of children included ACIP’s recommendation to vaccinate all children aged 6-18 months, which was first recommended in the 2009-2010 season, according to an editorial note that accompanied the report. The elimination in racial and ethnic disparities among non-Hispanic black and Hispanic children during this season may be partly due to the Vaccines for Children program, the editorial said.
There was no significant increase in the vaccination coverage for people aged 19-49 years, despite the universal vaccination recommendation, "underscoring the challenges associated with increasing coverage in this group," the editorial note said. The report also estimated that for adults aged 18-64 years with high risk medical conditions, coverage was 48.4%.
Despite improvements in vaccination coverage, "further work remains to reduce racial/ethnic disparities among adults, and to bring annual seasonal vaccination coverage levels to Healthy People 2020 targets," the editorial concluded. Those targets are 80% for people aged 6 months to 64 years, and 90% for adults aged 18-64 years with high-risk conditions and adults aged 65 years and older.