Vaccination Rates Remain High
[Announcer]This podcast is presented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC – safer, healthier people.
[Tyler Sonnichsen] Hi, this is Tyler Sonnichsen and I'm here today with Doctor Melinda Wharton, who is the Acting Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Doctor Wharton, I'll let you introduce what we're here to talk about today.
[Doctor Wharton] Well, I'm here to share with you information about the National Immunization Survey, which is our national report card on how we as a country are doing on vaccination of young children. We've got new data today on the vaccination coverage of children 19 to 35 months of age during 2008. So, these are new information that are just being made available today.
[Tyler Sonnichsen] Okay, so what does the new survey data tell us about immunization rates in the U.S. right now?
[Doctor Wharton] Well, there are several findings I'd like to highlight. The first one is that we continue to have high coverage with the series of six vaccines that we report. It's not quite as high as we'd like. Our national target's 80 percent but it's stable at close to that, at 76.1 percent; and so I think we're doing a pretty good job but of course there's a little bit of room for improvement. This includes the four doses of diphtheria-tetanus and pertussis vaccine; three doses of polio vaccine; one dose of measles, mumps, rubella vaccine; three doses of Hib vaccine; three doses of hepatitis B vaccine; and one dose of varicella vaccine. So it's a lot of vaccines and those are children who received all the doses of those vaccines, and if they've missed a single dose they're not included in that 76.1 percent. So it's important that parents make sure that their children have received all the vaccines recommended for their age, and they can follow up with their child's healthcare provider or ask at their baby's next check-up to see that they've received all the vaccines they should receive.
The second thing that I'd like to share is that we continue to have an immunization gap for children in poor families. There's about a five percent difference in series-complete coverage for children living below poverty compared to those at poverty or above, and if families are having trouble getting in to see a doctor or paying for vaccine they can call 1-800-CDC-INFO to get information about who to call in their community who can help them get their child vaccinated.
And then finally, we see in our national data a small decrease in the coverage for one specific vaccine, which is for a type that prevents a type of bacterial meningitis that we vaccinate young children for. It's meningitis caused by the Haemophilus influenza type b bacteria. There's actually been a shortage of that vaccine nationally since December 2007 and we had to decrease the number of doses we recommended for children because of that shortage. The good news is the shortage is over. Children can get the full series again and the children who missed that last dose can get it now, so parents of children under five years of age can ask their immunization provider if their child got all the doses they need of this particular vaccine, and if they didn't they can get it now because there's enough vaccine to do it.
[Tyler Sonnichsen] Okay, I think that that actually has to do with my second question. So why is it important to keep the immunization rates high?
[Doctor Wharton] Well, vaccine-preventable diseases remain a threat to children. We're fortunate in the United States that because of high coverage we don't see these diseases very much, but many of them are only a plane ride away. Many of these diseases are still common in other parts of the world. And people in the United States or visitors can bring them into the United States and even people who don't travel can be exposed. Other diseases, like pertussis, still circulate in the United States and we know that if vaccination rates drop the diseases will come back and there'll be outbreaks.
[Tyler Sonnichsen] And you mentioned something about infants and younger children. So why are vaccines really important for younger children and infants?
[Doctor Wharton] Vaccines can save a child's life and protect them from permanent disabilities. You know, back before we had these vaccines, many of these diseases were major causes of death of young children. And, even with the kind of medical care we have available now, children can still die of diseases like measles so it's important that children are vaccinated—and for the vaccines that take more than one dose to provide protection, it's important that the doses be given on time because that's what gets a child protected at the earliest stage possible.
[Tyler Sonnichsen] And what would happen if a child didn't get their shots on time?
[Doctor Wharton] If vaccines are delayed then a child can be left vulnerable to something that otherwise they could've been protected from. An unvaccinated child who's exposed to a disease is much more likely to become ill than someone who's been vaccinated. Now the chance of being exposed depends on the disease and where the child lives or travels. We don't have polio in the United States and haven't for many years, but pertussis—it still circulates here and we had small measles outbreaks in the United States last year when the disease was introduced by travelers. So these diseases do still occur in the United States.
[Tyler Sonnichsen] And another thing that's been in the news a little bit recently is about the safety of vaccines. In your findings, are vaccines generally safe?
[Doctor Wharton] Well, vaccines are held to very high standards of safety, because, of course, we're recommending them for healthy people—and healthy, very young children—so we all know how important it is that vaccines be as safe as they can be. This is something that we continually monitor, and if we find something that suggests a problem, we really work on it very quickly to try to sort it out. And we've stopped using vaccines because of safety issues in the past. Getting vaccinated, although it's not a hundred percent risk-free, nothing is in terms of medical intervention, it's still much safer than getting the disease. The side effects that occur commonly are, for the most part, mild pain at the injection site or swelling. And serious side effects occur very infrequently, they’re very rare, while the diseases are dangerous and even deadly.
[Tyler Sonnichsen] So another issue that's been in the news a lot has obviously been health care reform and even under the current system apparently families have options for covering the cost of vaccines. So if a family wants to get their children vaccinated but might have an issue with the expense what are the options they have?
[Doctor Wharton] Well, parents can begin by asking their child's health care provider about the Vaccines for Children Program, or VFC, which provides free vaccines for many groups of people who otherwise might not be able to afford them. More than 40,000 doctors are enrolled in the program and families that need help locating a doctor who participates in VFC can call 1-800-CDC-INFO for more information. This is a great program that can really help families who otherwise might have trouble getting these services.
[Tyler Sonnichsen] All right, that sounds great. Now, we really appreciate your time, Doctor Wharton and before you go, is there anywhere where anyone listening to this can go to get more information on immunization or vaccine-preventable diseases?
[Doctor Wharton] Absolutely. People who are interested in more information can call 1-800-CDC-INFO or they can visit our website at www.cdc.gov/vaccines where there's lots of information about vaccines and diseases and our vaccine recommendations and so there's a lot of good information there.
[Tyler Sonnichsen] All right, we really appreciate it and we look forward to talking to you again soon. Thank you very much, Doctor Wharton. This has been Tyler Sonnichsen and on behalf of the CDC, thank you very much for listening.
[Doctor Wharton] Thank you.
[Announcer]For the most accurate health information, visit www.cdc.gov or call 1-800-CDC-INFO, 24/7.
Free!
(25KB)
