CDC Reports Record Levels For Child Vaccination
Posted on: Friday, 5 September 2008, 15:10 CDT
Federal health officials are urging parents to continue to trust vaccine safety as U.S. toddlers got the recommended vaccinations against childhood diseases at record levels in 2007.
Vaccination rates for ages 1-1/2 through 3 years were released just a day after another study came out showing no link between autism and the vaccine given to guard against measles, mumps and rubella, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s issued report on Thursday.
The CDC said a record 77.4 percent of children in this age group received the fully recommended series of vaccinations. Ninety percent of children got all but one of the six individual vaccines in the series.
They reported that the one exception was the four doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis or whooping cough vaccine, received by 84.5 percent of toddlers.
Based on the data for 17,017 children, the CDC report found that less than 1 percent got no vaccines.
CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding said the immunization program's success hinges on parents' trust in vaccine safety.
Public health officials have expressed concern in recent years that some parents fearful about vaccine safety were declining to get their children vaccinated, making them more apt to catch and spread preventable diseases.
"We really recognize that ultimately our program is dependent on trust -- trust of moms and dads, trust of caretakers and trust of the clinicians, pediatricians (and) family practice professionals who take care of our children," Gerberding said.
This year's largest U.S. outbreak of measles since 1997, with 135 people sickened, was because of lack of vaccination often due to "personal or parental beliefs", the CDC said.
The CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat said childhood vaccinations save an estimated 33,000 lives per year in the United States.
Coverage with the full vaccine series ranged among states from 91 percent in Maryland to 63 percent in Nevada.
The recommended vaccination series consists of: four doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine; three doses of polio vaccine; one or more doses of measles, mumps and rubella (German measles) vaccine; three doses of Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine (Hib); three doses of hepatitis B vaccine; and one or more doses of chickenpox vaccine.
Source: redOrbti Staff & Wire Reports
Related Articles
- Jimmy Wilson Films Children's Series Awarded Parents Television Council Seal of Approval
- CDC Recommends ZOSTAVAX(R), Merck's Shingles Vaccine, for All Appropriate Adults Aged 60 and Older
- CDC: More Need to Be Vaccinated for Flu
- CenterPoint Energy Announces Redemption of HL&P Capital Trust II 8.257 Percent Capital Securities, Series B
- Midwest Mumps Outbreak Spreading -- CDC Pledges 25,000 MMR Vaccine Doses
- Bangladesh to Vaccinate 34.8 Mln Children Under Measles Vaccination Campaign
- Singapore Licenses New Vaccine Against Rotavirus Gastroenteritis in Children
- FDA Approves PROQUAD(R), the First and Only Vaccine in the U.S. To Help Protect Children Against Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Chickenpox in One Shot; PROQUAD(R) Combines Two Well-Established Merck Vaccines, M-M-R(R)II and VARIVAX(R)
- Children Fall Sick After Vaccination Programme in Chinese Primary School
- MedImmune Begins Dosing in Phase 1 Clinical Trial for Nasally Delivered Vaccine Designed to Help Prevent Common Childhood Respiratory Viral Diseases
 |
 |
User Comments (2)
| 2. |
Posted by Larry Gossett on 09/05/2008, 19:30 I can't help but wonder if all these life-saving vaccines are going to cause more harm than good by increasing the living po****tion beyond the nations capacity to support itself. Over 300 million people in the country. maybe some should die from illness so the po****tion can be reduced. I would be willing to die if that would help the nation overall. The vaccinations work, maybe a little too well. |
| 1. |
Posted by Mike on 09/05/2008, 19:15 Interesting! |
RSS Feeds