The Vast Majority of U.S. Kids Are Vaccinated

Vaccines are one of the most effective tools for preventing serious diseases in childhood and later in life, and new data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows most children in the U.S. are vaccinated.

CDC researchers looked at national, regional, state and local vaccine coverage rates and found that overall coverage remains high, and hasn’t changed much between 2013 and 2014. The data shows that the national target of 90% coverage was reached for poliovirus (three or more doses of the vaccine), measles, mumps and rubella (one or more doses of the vaccine), hepatitis B (three or more doses of the vaccine) and varicella (one or more dose of the vaccine).

Overall, children below the federal poverty level had the lowest coverage for nearly all types of vaccinations.

A second report published Thursday from CDC researchers found that most kindergarteners entering the 2014-15 school year were vaccinated, and the exemption rate for vaccines nationwide was about 1.7%.

That’s the national picture at least. The data also shows that state-exemption rates range pretty significantly, with Mississippi at less than 0.1% and Idaho at a high of 6.5%. There were five states that did not meet the CDC’s reporting standards for providing vaccine exemption data. “Pockets of children who miss vaccinations exist in our communities and they leave these communities vulnerable to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases in a press conference.

Pockets of low vaccination rates have proven problematic this year. In the new report, the researchers write that in 2015, measles outbreak cases included 68 unvaccinated Americans, and among those people, 29 cited philosophic or religious objections to vaccines. The CDC says the U.S. experienced a record number of measles cases in 2014 at 668 cases. That’s the highest number of measles cases since the disease was eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. Between January to August 21, 2015, there have been 188 cases of measles so far.

“We always worry about children and others with leukemia and other similar medical problems who can’t actually receive the [measles, mumps, and rubella] vaccine themselves,” said Schuchat.

The CDC reports in its latest study, that among the 49 reporting states and the District of Columbia (DC), the median vaccination coverage rate was 94% for the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, and approximately 94% for local requirements for the diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine. Varicella coverage was 93.6% among the 39 states and DC that have a 2-dose varicella vaccine requirement.

Some states are strengthening their requirements for exemptions. In 2015, California removed religious and philosophic exemptions for kids in public and private schools and Vermont removed philosophic exemptions. Schuchat recommended parents find out what their states’ vaccination exemption rates are.

Getting routine vaccines in childhood is estimated to prevent 322 million cases of disease and 732,000 early deaths among kids, the CDC points out in its report. The benefits of vaccination are not just for health. Routine vaccination could save $1.38 trillion.