Today CDC released the 2016-2018 NIS-Child report and the 2018-19 kindergarten vaccination coverage report. The reports are published online at https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/. Interactive state level and trend data are available online at https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vaxview/.
CDC’s priority messages include:
The US has already had 22 measles outbreaks in 2019, and most cases were among people who were not vaccinated.
- Lack of access to vaccination services and hesitancy resulting from the spread of inaccurate information about vaccines, continue to increase the likelihood of outbreaks.
NIS-Child Vaccination Coverage by Second Birthday
- While most U.S. parents are protecting their children from vaccine-preventable diseases by making sure they are getting recommended vaccines, there are areas where coverage is low. 20 states currently have MMR coverage of less than 90 percent.
- CDC’s data suggest that parents want to vaccinate their children, but they may face barriers to protecting their children. Coverage was lower for children without private health insurance, especially those with no insurance, as well as those living below the poverty line and in more rural areas. Additionally, only 1.3 percent of children received no vaccines by age 24 months
Kindergarten Vaccination survey
- National coverage of kindergartners with MMR, DTaP, and varicella vaccines remained near 95 percent. Recent measles outbreaks in states with high overall MMR coverage show how important it is for states to use school level data to identify where local vaccination efforts are needed.
- Although the overall percentage of children with an exemption increased slightly for the second consecutive school year, children with exemptions still represent a small proportion of kindergartners nationally and in most states. Almost every state could have 95 percent MMR coverage if all nonexempt kindergartners were vaccinated in accordance with local and state vaccination policies.