Racial Disparities in Childhood Immunization Coverage Rates Closing
CDC - Media Relations:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today announced that 2005 childhood immunization rates for vaccines routinely recommended for children between 19 and 35 months of age remain at or near record highs.
For the first time in the past ten years, rates for the full series of recommended vaccines did not vary significantly by race and ethnicity.
Coverage for the previous series that excluded varicella vaccine (4:3:1:3:3) was 10 percent lower for black children in 2002, compared to 3 percent in 2005.
The 4:3:1:3:3:1 series includes four doses of Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis (DTaP), three doses of polio vaccine, one dose of measles-containing vaccine, three doses of Hib vaccine, three doses of hepatitis B vaccine, and one dose of varicella vaccine.
Other significant findings from the 2005 NIS indicate that substantial progress has been made in five years after the introduction of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) despite past shortages of the vaccine.
Coverage estimates for 2005 indicate that more than 50 percent of the nation's children are fully vaccinated with PCV and more than 80 percent have received at least three of the four dose series.
Estimates for four doses of PCV most likely remain low because prior shortages affected children included in the 2005 NIS.
