ATLANTA - Vaccination of U.S. infants 19 months to 35 months remains high at 90% or greater for routine immunizations, according to results of the 2009 National Immunization Survey released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This means vaccine coverage in 2009 for poliovirus; measles, mumps, and rubella; hepatitis B; and varicella met or exceeded the 90% goal set by the government's National Healthy People 2010 initiative.
In addition, vaccine coverage increased in 2009, compared with 2008, for newly recommended immunizations, including the birth dose of hepatitis B (61%, up from 55%) and hepatitis A (47%, up from 40%), according to the results of this population-based survey published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (2010;59:1171–7).
At the same time, this survey of vaccinations for 17,313 children nationwide revealed less than 1% of young children born between January 2006 and July 2008 received no vaccinations.
"Today's report is generally very reassuring, despite concerns we've seen in the past about whether parents are continuing to have their children vaccinated, and despite some resurgences in vaccine-preventable diseases in particular areas, today's national report provides good news," Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, said during a telebriefing.
Despite the encouraging numbers, there is a need for clinicians to provide ongoing parent education, Dr. Schuchat said.
Some substantial variation in vaccine coverage between states was again revealed by this annual survey, suggesting there is still work to be done in some communities.
Dr. Schuchat addressed the outbreak of pertussis cases in California, responsible for nine infant deaths since January 2010. The coverage in California for four doses of DTaP, the pertussis-containing baby shot, was 83%, according to state records.
"We don't think it's the coverage level in that babies and toddlers that is leading to that pertussis challenge in California." Instead, "we think the challenge with those pertussis cases is the increasing vaccination of teens and adults," she said, although "it continues to be important for babies and toddlers to get their DTaP doses."
The CDC strongly recommends everyone aged 11 years and older, particularly new parents and those in close contact with young children, receive the vaccination against pertussis. Dr. Schuchat said, "The situation in California is serious, and we are working together with the California health department to really promote uptake of the pertussis vaccine for teens and adults."
The survey showed national coverage for MMR vaccinations experienced "a significant but not large" drop from 92% in 2008 to 90% in 2009.
"That might be a warning sign of larger drops to come or a small change that, because our survey is so large, was statistically significant," Dr. Schuchat said. Even though national coverage numbers are 90%, "you can still have large pockets of susceptible children." She added that measles outbreaks in 2008 affected communities in which certain schools had a large number of children who were unvaccinated when the virus was imported from other countries where infection is still very common.
She added that measles outbreaks in 2008 affected communities in which certain schools had a large number of children who were unvaccinated when the virus was imported from other countries where infection is still very common. "Those two examples [pertussis and measles] show that we cannot let our guard down."
The survey also revealed a substantial drop in coverage for one vaccine, Haemophilus influenzae B (Hib). A total of 84% of children aged 19–35 months received the three recommended doses in the survey. This represents a decrease of more than 6 percentage points vs. 2008 that "really just reflects the national shortage" of this vaccine between December 2007 and September 2009, Dr. Schuchat said.
Other survey findings indicate that 44% of children received full coverage for the rotavirus vaccine during infancy. This is the first national survey data to report adoption of the rotavirus vaccine since its U.S. licensure in 2006.
"That is really good uptake of this vaccine," Dr. Schuchat said.
In addition, 80% of infants received the recommended four or more doses that comprise full coverage for pneumococcal conjugate vaccination. This figure is comparable to coverage reported for other immunizations that require four doses to complete, according to the report.
The 2009 National Immunization Survey was a telephone survey of vaccinations for U.S. households with children born between January 2006 and July 2008. The CDC report is also based on 17,313 vaccination records provided by health care providers for the families contacted for the survey.