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The Healthy People 2010 objective for the complete
series of routinely recommended childhood vaccinations is immunization
of at least 90 percent of 19- to 35-month-olds with the full series
of vaccines. Data released from the CDC’s 2004 National Immunization
Survey show that 80.9 percent of children aged 19 to 35 months had
received the recommended 4:3:1:3:3 series of vaccines. This series
comprises 4 doses of diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine,
3 doses of poliovirus vaccine, 1 dose of measles-mumpsrubella vaccine,
and 3 doses of Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine. Overall, 76.0
percent had received that series plus the varicella (chicken pox)
vaccine.
Since 2000, the greatest increases in vaccination
rates have occurred with the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis
vaccine and the varicella vaccine (which was added to the schedule
in 1996.) They have risen 4.7 and 29 percent, respectively. Vaccination
rates for other vaccines have generally risen about 2 percent over
the same period. Racial and ethnic disparities in vaccination rates
persist, with non-Hispanic Black children and American Indian/Alaska
Native children (data not shown) having the lowest rates for each
of the major vaccines. Non-Hispanic White children experience the
highest vaccination rates.
Each year, the CDC publishes an updated version
of the recommended childhood immunization schedule (see facing page).
The 2006 schedule continues to encourage the routine use of hepatitis
B vaccines for all infants before hospital discharge and the use
of annual influenza vaccines for all children starting at 6 months
of age.
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Table: Estimated Vaccination Rates Among
Children Aged 19-35 Months, by Race/Ethnicity: 2004
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Link: Recommended Childhood and Adolescent Immunization
Schedule, United States, 2006
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